


We're Just Here

by implicit_despair



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Highschool AU, Minor DRV3 Spoilers, Multi, danganronpa - Freeform, don't get your hopes up, it starts out wholesome and then escalates a little too quickly, it's gonna get better as the chapters progress i swear, mental health, new characters will come dont worry, no smut yet, so enjoy that, sorry im not a professional writer but im trying, trigger warning, will be adding new tags once i get my shit together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-01-23 08:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12503252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/implicit_despair/pseuds/implicit_despair
Summary: What if, in the world of Danganronpa, there was no killing game? What if they were just average high school students, and the worse thing they had to worry about was a bad grade?But just because killing game may be gone, that doesn't mean no one's going to die...





	1. Yet Again

Kaede walked down the narrow and crowded corridors of Hope’s Peak Academy. The bell had already rung for class yet so few students cared about the repetitive chime. She glanced down at her watch, which was decorated with music notes, and started to pick up her pace. It was 8:03 AM, she had agreed to meet with Shuichi and Kaito at 8 AM so they could quickly review her notes before the math quiz. Kaede may not have been a math ultimate, but she could surely pass as one.

“Akamatsu-san!” A voice screamed at her. She turned to face the voice that was like nails on a blackboard to her. “Over here!” Kaede suddenly recognized the voice as the crowd dispersed; a waving Kaito was standing with Shuichi beside their math classroom. She waved back and jogged towards them. “I’m sorry I’m late!” said Kaede in between breaths. “I-I was rushing. My stupid,” she panted, “neighbours set their alarm-” But Kaito cut her off before she could finish, “No time for bullshit! Takeoff is in-” The second bell rung, cutting his sentence short. Kaito and Shuichi’s eyes widened in panic as Kaede began digging her notes out of her bag. “QUICKLY YOU PASSIONATE RED MAPLE TREE!” Screamed the astronaut, earning a elbow to the chest from Shuichi.

She handed them each a set of notes that she had prepared the night before. Each stack of notes were carefully stapled and had a small, smiley sticker in the corner. They stalled their way into class by walking as slow as possible, giving the boys enough time to skim over the study guide. Their teacher, Mrs. Nozawa, stood at the front of the room, writing something down on the blackboard. Despite being a nature lover, the classroom’s blinds were shut tightly, so not even a sliver of outside light could pass through. Mrs. Nozawa turned to face them as they walked in, not giving them even a slight smile. The whole class had already taken their seats.

Kaede waved her hand slightly as she separated from the boys to sit in the desk next to Kirumi, who was surrounded by a group of unorganized students begging for a pencil. Both of the boys were left to stare at her making her way through the crowd. “Boys! Take your seat and stop holding up the class,” shouted their teacher who was pointing straight at them. Kaito tapped Shuichi on the shoulder, who was still staring at Kaede settling down in her seat, and tilted his head towards two seats at the back that were screaming their name. Both of them had their reasons for avoiding the front, Kaito’s was avoiding the teacher (who would’ve guessed) and well, Shuichi’s was to avoid everyone else. As they sat down, Kaito leaned forward so his mouth and Shuichi’s ear would meet. “Looks like someone’s on her period,” Kaito whispered, but the detective was too nervous to care about some witty remark his best friend had made.

“Quiet down class,” shouted Ms. Nozawa who was snapping her fingers, desperate to get the class’s attention. Below her snapping hand was an apple, presumably placed by Ryoma, as the detective had deducted; he had a way with getting good grades without studying. Ms. Nozawa cleared her throat, “You will have 50 minutes to complete part one, then an extra 30 minutes for part two which will be given to you when you hand in part one. After this test you are free to go home, relax, or study for your other final test tomorrow. You may start when I say so.” As she said that, a small figure, no older than the students themselves, had appeared from the corner. It was a dimly lit area, and the woman was wearing all black, she got up from her seat and placed papers firmly down on each student’s desk.

Kaito glanced down at the test, giving it a good skim beforehand. He peered over to Shuichi who was doing the same. “You may start!” said their teacher, and each student hunched over their papers, completing each question with haste but not much accuracy; this was the case for Kaito anyway. Shuichi didn’t do as bad as he thought, he had used process of elimination for most of the questions, a time when his detective talent came in handy. He set his pencil down on the paper and dragged it across.

——

_*DING DONG, BING BONG*_

The bell rang throughout the room, and much to Himiko’s delight she skipped out of the room, her tall hat flapping with each skip. Tenko followed shortly after, looking paler than usual. “Nyeh-that test made Himiko sleepy,” said the smaller girl, yawning. Being alerted of Himiko’s voice, she stood erect, almost like a soilder. “Yumeno-chan, aren’t you always tired?” Himiko smiled at the realization of this, “Can we just go back to our dorms?” The active one saluted, “Yes! We will do what Yumeno-chan-the great magician-wants to do!” The redhead sighed, “It’s mage, not magician,” Himiko said as they began their trek to the other side of the campus. The sound of Tenko apologizing slowly grew fainter, and fainter-

“So how about it?” asked the blonde pianist, as she walked along the hallways back to the dorms with her entourage. “Hmm,” the detective scratched the back of his neck, “it would be more efficient studying together-” Kaito cut him off, “Then it’s settled! We meet at 7 PM at Harumaki’s room, and head off the the library from there!” Maki grumbled and swore under her breath, “I-I told you to stop calling m-me that.” Dismissive of the comment, the astronaut put an arm around her, “Come’on, as the ultimate child caregiver, those kiddos must give you nicknames all the time!” The black haired girl’s eyes widened, her real ultimate was still a mystery to them, but how would they react knowing an assassin is among them?

“Momota-kun, don’t harass Harukawa-san,” said Kaede in defense of Maki, girls had to stick together of course, but so did boys. “Ah-wa? He was merely teasing, Kaede. Don’t be so worried,” he huffed. Kaito took note of his address and smirked, so did Maki apparently, who was looking down at her feet attempting to hide hers. “If you say so,” replied Kaede who was rubbing her left elbow, her face a light pink from either blushing or walking. She hoped it was from walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading till the end of the chapter. This is my first time writing for the fandom (and I'm still fairly new), so mistakes will be made! If you see any please don't hesitate to comment, I'm still editing as I go so I might miss some things.


	2. Here We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's after school at Hope's Peak Academy, what could possibly go wrong?

“How are we looking for the deadline next week?” asked Kokichi, who was standing below a ladder which Kirumi stood upon placing decorations across the gym. She wiped her gloves on her skirt and slowly climbed down, “We should be able to make it before the deadline.” The short boy shook his head, “How must you address me?” Kirumi, who gracefully jumped off the last step of the ladder, sighed and said, “We should be able to make it before the deadline, master.” The evil supreme leader smiled, leading something (even if it was the prom committee) was his specialty. And he had quite a way around his workers.

Angie walked in with two buckets of paint dangling from either side of her. Her thin frame was wobbling due to the weight of the buckets. “I got the-WOAH!” She screamed as she fell to her right, causing the lid of one the paint cans to bust open and leave a trail of teal paint as it rolled along the gym floor. Kirumi, being the ultimate maid, automatically ran to the paint can and put it right side up. She pulled the cloth that strung around her neck and started to scrub at the paint trail furiously while it was still fairly wet. 

Kokichi slapped his forehead with little strength and walked over to Angie, who was still spread out on the floor, “Heh, this is what you get for being late. So much for the deadline.” He chuckled as he started strolling through the gym, inspecting every aspect of the room. “He’s been a bit touchy lately,” whispered Kirumi who was cleaning the last few bits of the teal paint trail. “I can tell,” replied Angie, as she rubbed her head on the spot that took the most pain. The stop was clearly red, but the fallen mistress did her best to cover it from the maid, who would’ve rushed to get painkillers. Angie stood up will all her strength and dusted off her flowing yellow cloak.

With one quick push, Himiko marched through the big gym doors, with Tenko following shortly after. “Not to fret!” The shorter girl shouted, “The great mage has arrived!” She spread her arms out and took a bow as Tenko appeared from behind her looking less energetic than usual, “And her great-” But Himiko cut her off, “One who is the great mage does not require an assistant,” she scoffed and skipped towards the middle of the room, where Kokichi had been standing for her grand entrance in a trance. He jolted as he returned to reality thanks to Himiko clapping in front of his face. She bowed, “This,” she pointed at an aware Kokichi, “is the work of yours truly.” She bowed once more to please her one-woman audience, which consisted of Tenko and Tenko only. “Woohoo! We knew we could count on the great magician!” The mage’s eyes thinned as she death glared her clapping friend, “It’s MAGE! Not that excuse for a wizard.”

Kokichi, clearly being amused by the situation, rested his arm on Himiko’s shoulder and stuck out his tongue. “Yeah, get it right next time, Ms. Not-out-of-the-closet-yet!” Tenko’s face reddened in comparison to her blue school uniform, her eyes were full of hatred and pointed straight at the boy. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER YOU DEGENERATE MALE!” She charged towards them but by the time she reached them, he had already taken his arm off her best friend’s shoulder, creating a gap between the two which she ran right in between. Tenko halted, and looked around “Huh? Is it prom already?” Kokichi laughed and saw this as an opportunity, “You didn’t know? Huh, no wonder you don’t have a date.” Tenko turned to face the short boy, “Hey, I would never go to prom with one you menaces!” She turned her face away from them and thought of a quick retort, “How about you? Do you have a date?” Tenko smirked, she was sure he’d but stumped at this question, “Neeheehee, thanks for asking.” She was wrong, the boy had been raised to be ready for anything, “Himiko over here’s my date.” He winked, as Tenko looked at him with pure malice. “YOU DEGENERATE!”

\-- --

7:19 PM, read the clock across from Maki’s dorm room. Kaede was sitting on the floor, playing random piano songs on her melodica. “I knew the boys would be late,” said Maki with annoyance, “We should’ve known.” Kaede put her melodica aside, she saw this as an opening from Maki, who never talked much. “Well, God knows what they're doing,” Kaede smiled, “Perhaps Kaito’s getting ready for you?” The assassin did not expect that response, she never really focused on boys or romance for any matter. When your job is to kill someone, you never really feel anything, no attachments meant no pain; it was easier to do the job that way.

“Why would he be getting ready for me? It’s just studying,” replied Maki in a monotone voice, hiding any hint of infatuation for the boy. “I saw how he was with you today,” Kaede stood up, “that boy’s on a mission.” Before Maki could scoff to the pianist’s comments, two figures appeared at the end of the hallway. They were getting closer and soon enough revealed themselves to be who they had been just waiting for. “Speak of the devils,” said Maki, eying both. Kaito did a min-salute, “Good evening to you too, Harumaki.” Shuichi, on the other hand, had not been getting as easy of a greeting from Kaede. “It’s,” she glanced the clock, “7:23, we agreed on 7, didn’t we?”

“Well, we better get going,” said the detective, “Let’s not waste time.” “Correction,” said Maki, “let's not waste any more time than you already have.” All of them agreed silently as they started walking down the hall. They didn’t look at each other, not even a slight glance until Kaito rushed forward and started walking backwards to face the group. “So,” Kaito said, almost bumping into a fellow student innocently walking to their dorm, “what’s the deal with you two?”

“Kaito!” Screamed Maki, in defense of the other girl. She felt as if she needed to pay her back for earlier.

“Yes, Harumaki?” Kaito replied with a grin on his face, he seemed to be enjoying using nicknames a bit too much.

Maki rolled her eyes and turned her head towards Shuichi, who was in the middle of the two girls. “So yeah, what’s up with the first name basis?” Shuichi shook his head, “Seriously, you too?” Kaito held up his hand to Maki, who left him hanging. He lowered his hand in defeat. Kaede decided to speak up, “Tch-tch-tch, you guys are overthinking this.” Kaito and Maki exchanged eye contact before both their attentions were focused near Kaede’s hips. “Well, you guys sure aren’t.” The taller boy pointed to where he and Maki were looking, Kaede and Shuichi had their hands locked in a tight bond. Upon realizing, they released their hands but immediately longed for the same warmth.

“Nah, no shame in that. Keep holding!” Kaito’s voice echoed through the hall as he took his place beside Maki and held her hand. As to his surprise, she didn’t let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! This chapter was really about introducing the ships. Any character not yet introduced will be next chapter. 
> 
> For now, I really want to continue on this Kokichi/Himiko/Tenko love triangle. Honestly, HIMIKO AND KOKICHI ARE ONE OF THE MOST UNDERRATED SHIPS.
> 
> This chapter came way earlier than expected, turns out I’m better at procrastinating doing my homework than I thought. 
> 
> (P.S: I thought I was going to have the studying scene in this chapter but oh well)


	3. Underneath The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three things: a lie, a chatroom, a victim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: if you are below 12 then 1. what are you doing on ao3 and 2. pls don't continue unless you know human anatomy (female specifically) 
> 
> don't worry it's just for this chapter

The gang sat in a secluded corner, it was dimly lit but they were glad for the privacy. Maki took her seat next to Kaede, Kaito smiled as he took the one across from her, with Shuichi taking the remaining one. Each of them placed their stack of books on the table for tomorrow’s science test about biology. Kaito stared at the books, at least 17 in total he estimated.

“You know,” he said, smirking, “There was a better way of studying biology-”

“Shut up,” replied Maki, giving him his daily dose of death glares. He put his hands up.

“Woah, Harumaki calm down,” his grinning spanning from the edge of his cheek to the other, “I’m just teasing ya.”

“Again,” muttered Kaede, who was opening up the first book from her stack. Maki peered over her shoulder.

“Okay,” said Shuichi, jumping in on the already loud conversation, “The study guide he gave us states that we’ll need to know the functions and names of each muscle. Maki sighed loudly but was soon overpowered by Kaito’s.

“Shit,” said the purpled haired boy, stroking his chin, “I’m completely and utterly screwed.”

“If you’re screwed, then what the fuck am I?” Screamed a voice behind them, it was the one and only Miu. She walked up to their table, ignoring the librarian who asked her to quiet down, and pulled up a chair. She wasn’t wearing her usual pink outfit but instead swapped it for an orange tank top and jeans. Despite the clothing change, it still showed off her ‘assets’.

“Oh,” whispered Kaede, “what’s up?” The bigger girl slammed her hands on the table.

“I’m gonna fail this fuckin’ test! You and your pathetic tits are probably going to get a big fat zero, at the most!”

Kaito scoffed, “No offense to you,” he pointed at Shuichi, “But everyone, even if they’re not the ultimate detective, could’ve deducted that.”

“Shut up, you fucking virgin!” Miu yelled, causing more of a commotion than she had already created.

“Scuse’ you,” replied Kaito, “but all the girls I’ve hooked up with were way hotter than whatever you are.”

Miu pouted and huffed, “Hmph, if that’s how you like to play then so be it.”

“Guys,” said Kaede, trying to make sense of the situation. She held her arm out to try and separate the two but Maki held her back, shaking her head. She mouthed the words, “not worth it.” Kaede sat back down, expecting Maki to do something, but instead, she got up from her seat and excused herself in silence.

“Maki-” but the door had already signified she’d left.

“HAHAHA!” Miu stood up, “Whatcha doin’ now, lover boy?” She continued to laugh as she exited the library, receiving stares from other students.

Kaito shook his head, “Sorry guys. I bet this is all my fault,” and just like that, Shuichi and Kaede were alone. In a dim, private corner. They both shot glances at each other, then back at Kaito, then back at each other until the astronaut left.

“I-I-I,” Shuichi stuttered, “Should probably-”

Kaede pulled out Maki’s former chair, “Yeah, you know. So we don’t have to shout.” He stood up and walked around the table, stalling as much as he could, before finally reaching the seat. Kaede had her book opened to a page, showing the muscles of the leg.

“So, we should probably study huh?” Said the boy, scratching the back of his neck. The girl smiled and nodded, as she shifted closer. The boy did the same till their thighs were faintly touching, but that was enough for them.

 

\-- --

_Class 80 Chatroom_

_Gokuhara, Gonta [Gonta], has logged in. (7:42 PM)_

_Amami, Rantaro [Rantaro], has logged in. (7:42 PM)_

_Oma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has logged in. (7:42 PM)_

_Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭], has logged in. (7:44 PM)_

_Tojo, Kirumi [Kirumi], has logged in. (7:45 PM)_

_Shinguji, Korekiyo, has logged in. (7:45 PM)_

_CHATROOM HAS BEEN CREATED, HAVE FUN!_

 

himiko٭: nyeh?

Shinguji, Korekiyo: it seems that someone created a chatroom for us

SponByPanta: no kidding

SponByPanta: and hey

SponByPanta: why don’t u have a nickname?

Shinguji, Korekiyo: I find them to just be a distraction

Shinguji, Korekiyo: If you find it a disgrace, I see no reason for you not to change it.

_SponByPanta has changed Shinguji, Korekiyo’s username to incest is wincest_

incest is wincest: I regret permitting this to happen immensely.

Kirumi: I feel as though I should leave immediately.

_SponByPanta has changed Kirumi's username to Maid-Mom_

Maid-Mom: I was right.

himiko٭: what

Gonta: gonta is what too

Rantaro: sorry to drop in on your support group, but i’m pretty sure i don’t belong here.

Gonta: nonsense!1 you belong anywhere

himiko٭: except in kaede’s panties *cough*

SponByPanta: i consent

_Amami, Rantaro [Rantaro], has logged out. (7:51 PM)_

Maid-Mom: I believe I found a pair hidden in his bedside drawer.

SponByPanta: ngl i just spit out my drink

himiko٭: LMFAO

Maid-Mom: Would you like me to clean that up for you?

himiko٭: or was it some other liquid

incest is wincest: …

Maid-Mom: If Himiko’s statement is correct, I will not be cleaning that up for you.

SponByPanta: …

Gonta: im confused again

himiko٭: you probably should be

_Iruma, Miu has logged in (7:54 PM)_

_Iruma, Miu has changed Iruma, Miu’s username to Cunt Destroyer_

SponByPanta: that’s right

SponByPanta: you’ve destroyed your own is that why i haven’t been hearing moans from your dorm lately

Gonta: what is cunt?

Cunt Destroyer: oh.

Cunt Destroyer: this will be fun

_Maid-Mom kicked Cunt Destroyer out of the chat_

incest is wincest: thank god

_Yonaga, Angie has logged in (7:56 PM)_

SponByPanta: shit you summoned a nun

Yonaga, Angie: Do not swear in the presence of Atua!

himiko٭: WAIT FOR IT

_SponByPanta has changed Yonaga, Angie’s username to spreading 4 atua_

spreading 4 atua: kokichi i believe you spelled 'for' wrong

SponByPanta: whoops it seems like i did

SponByPanta: I’ll fix it

Maid-Mom: No, allow me.

_Maid-Mom kicked SponByPanta out of the chat_

_Maid-Mom kicked himiko٭ out of the chat_

_Maid-Mom kicked incest is wincest out of the chat_

_Maid-Mom kicked spreading 4 atua out of the chat_

_Maid-Mom kicked Gonta out of the chat_

_Maid-Mom has logged out._

_This chat has disbanded!_

\-- --

“Harumaki!” Screamed Kaito as he ran out the library doors, he was now out in the open. Students rushed back to their dorms as the 8 PM bell rang. He swore under his breath as he headed for the field outside of the main school building. It was still a fair 8-minute walk, so he progressed into a sprint; not stopping to catch his breath whatsoever.

Maki was in plain sight, on the contrary to what her assassin instincts told her to do. She laid down on the grass. It was a chilly night for it being May, but she enjoyed the cool grass as it enveloped her whole body. Her eyes were stuck looking at the sky; a sea full of black. Maki sighed as she waited for the stars to illuminate her face like they did in the movies, but as she waited the sky remained black, illuminating nothing. She slammed the ground with her fists and sat back up, this is why I became an assassin, she thought.

“Harumaki!” Maki froze, is that? She turned her head to catch a glimpse of Kaito, waving his arm and running up to her. Maki quickly turned her head back and buried her head in her trembling arms. The footsteps became louder and louder before they came to a stop, and all that was in between them was tension. Her hair flew in her face as the breeze attacked from the side.

The astronaut stood in silence, his coat flying from the breeze. There she was, sitting, so delicate. Her shield never came down, but in moments like this, she let it down for him. Just for him. Kaito bit down on his lip, flinching a little from the pain; she looked so peaceful, how could he just barge in not knowing if he was wanted? “Maki?”

Her eyes widen as she lifted her head, her fingernails leaving a faint mark on her cheeks where she had been clutching. “Kaito?” She whispered, and not long after a figure sat down beside her; not as close as she liked.

Kaito leaned in, “Are you okay?” She nodded and swallowed.

“Why do you care?” replied Maki, wiping a single tear that slid down her face.

“Y-you kinda left us hanging there,” he forced a laugh out to lighten the situation, Kaito wasn’t the best at feelings.

Maki sniffled and faced Kaito. Faces just inches apart, she took a deep breath.

“I lied-I lied, I lied, I lied!” She shook her head back and forth. “I’m not the ultimate-whatever the fuck my lie was.”

Kaito’s mouth fell, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I lied, about my ultimate, about-everything!” Maki’s eyes became puffy as more and more tears streamed down. Kaito shifted in closer, his hand intertwining with Maki’s unconsciously. “All those child caregiving stories? Fake. Found them on the internet.”

“What’s so bad about finding stories on the internet-”

“You don’t understand!” Maki cut him off, “I kill! There! I kill for money. You want to know what’s bad about fake stories, it’s the reason why they’re fake. We take things and we don’t question them, you met me and you didn’t question me; you took me for who I told you I was. It’s like I was behind this, window watching all of you interact and freeing your real selves. I was a mere spectator in the crowd of players.” The pair fell silent once more.

“I know this is how’d you react-”

Instead of replying with a sentence, Kaito cupped Maki’s face with both hands and pressed their lips together, sealing her’s tight. As the broke off, Maki stared in awe as Kaito grinned. “Is that a good enough reaction for you?” She nodded, and leaned in, kissing him with more passion than she had shown in the past decade. He delicately placed a hand on her inner thigh, causing her to flinch a bit but she soon took in the feeling of his hand as she slid it upwards. “Kaito,” she whimpered but was cut off once again by his lips pressed against hers. The sky, now full of stars, illuminated the two as if they were in a play of their own. 

\-- --

_ERROR 404_

_MULTIPLE MOTORS MISSING_

_CODE 53106 BREACHED_

_PERMANENT SHUT DOWN COMMENCING IN 34 MINUTES_

 

“...Shit”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm i wonder if i forgot to introduce two characters (which was not because i hate them but because of a much bigger reason you'll come to find in chapter 4 *wink wink nudge nudge*)
> 
> btw this isn't like a special halloween chapter i just thought it would be nice if i published it on the one day i can overuse the spoopy meme and have it be acceptable
> 
> also i'm pretty sure there's a lot of mistakes in this chapter okay i wrote it late at night so if you do find anything just note im still editing thanks.


	4. Sparks Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time flies as much as sparks do.

Tsumugi backed away from the sparks spurting out of the robot. She screamed in pain as her head hit the back wall. The sparks erupted into fireworks as it illuminated the surrounding area with a faint blue glow. The cosplayer trembled in fear as the countdown began.

_ 33 MINUTES… _

_ 32 MINUTES… _

_ 31 MINUTES… _

She looked around the room for something that could help but threw her hands in the air in defeat. She was a cosplayer, not a repairman for goodness sake! Tsumugi took one last look at the plethora of sparks bouncing around the room and ran straight out the heavy metal door. She hesitated in the hallway, bouncing on her feet, before deciding to head for the dorms. 

Tsumugi wasn’t the most athletic person, of course as a cosplayer most her time was spent sewing, but she still sprinted in panic down the hallway. Even with just a quick glance at the clock, she could already tell it was past 8:30 PM. Not long after she started sprinting, she suddenly found herself, head throbbing again and lying on the floor with a shadowy figure standing above her.

“Jesus, is that you?” said Tsumugi, eyesight still blurry from the shock. She rubbed her eyes before realizing her glasses weren’t on her. “Ahh~! Where did my glasses go?” She crawled on all fours, struggling to find her glasses thanks to her high prescription. The figure still stood and sighed before Tsumugi found herself with a red handprint on her cheek.

“The fuck’re you sayin’?” asked the figure, who Tsumugi guessed was Miu, based on the choice of words.

“Oh! Iruma-san,” Tsumugi said, getting off the ground. She brushed her hands on her skirt as she wobbled a bit from the blurry sight. “I-I need help, in room 180.”

“Please! It’s probably some fuckin’ porno shoot with your ‘costumes’.” Miu scoffed, as she began to walk pass Tsumugi. Despite Tsumugi’s glasses still missing from her face, she continued to follow the orange blob of colour that was Miu’s tank top.

“NO!” she shouted, trying to follow Miu through the hallway, “It’s Keebo!” Miu came to a stop. Everyone knew she had been working on him for quite some time, using her ultimate to improve the robot and give him more functions than Dr. Idabashi had installed. He was like her own personal project, and like with anything Miu did, she was very proud of her work on him.

The infuriated inventor turned back to face Tsumugi, “What about him?” she asked, stopping between each word for dramatic emphasis. The blue-haired girl trembled, obviously feeling intimidated by the angered girl in front of her.

Tsumugi made an explosion gesture with her hands and made shooting noises. Miu’s face was bright red, and hot air radiated from her cheeks onto Tsumugi, who had sweat beads dripping from her forehead. Miu pushed passed her and stomped all the way to room 180.

\-- --

 

Hope’s Peak Academy - Private Messaging

 

_ Hoshi, Ryoma, has logged in. (8:37 PM) _

_ Hoshi, Ryoma has invited Saihara, Shuichi. (8:39 PM) _

_ Saihara, Shuichi [Shuichi], has logged in. (8:41 PM)  _

 

Hoshi, Ryoma: hey shuichi

Hoshi, Ryoma: thanks for logging on

Shuichi: np, so what did you need?

Hoshi, Ryoma: money

Hoshi, Ryoma: lots of it

Shuichi: wait why?

Hoshi, Ryoma: no time, meet me in my lab in 10

Shuichi: hoshi-

 

_ An admin has detected suspicious messages! Please delete them or face punishment. _

 

_ Hoshi, Ryoma, has logged out. (8:44 PM) _

_ Admin kicked Saihara, Shuichi [Shuichi] out of the chat.  _

_ This chat has disbanded! _

\-- -- 

The library door opened as Maki and Kaito walked in, hand in hand. Kaede looked up before elbowing Shuichi, who was staring at his phone, which caused the startled boy to do the same. The couple walked back to the table in silence and sat down in the remaining seats next to each other. Kaede grinned and stared at them. Shuichi put his phone back in his pocket and looked around the table; Kaito was opening up his book, Maki was glancing over his shoulder, and Kaede’s grin was slowly turning into a Cheshire cat smile.

Maki squinted at the pianist, “What are you staring at?” 

“I’m not staring at a ‘what’ I’m staring at a ‘who’ and in that case I-”

“I have to leave,” said Shuichi as he stood up from the desk, leaving all his books on the table. “Kaede, can you drop my books back at my room when you’re done studying?”

She nodded, “Uhof course, but may I ask-” But before she could finish Shuichi was halfway to the library door. The detective looked back and gave a sly wave before heading out into the darkness beyond.

Kaito leaned back, “Geez, is he always this worried?”

Kaede shrugged, “He’s just, you know, always been like that.”

“Like what?” Maki replied.

“Like, ‘OH I HAVE TO RUSH TO SOMEWHERE AND MEET SOMEONE AND SOLVE MYSTERIES WITH MY EMO HAT’” said Kaito, with some concerned librarians staring once more at their direction.

The blonde-haired girl sighed, “I mean, he’s not always like that. It’s just that-”

“Just that what?” interrupted Maki, who was trying to hold her laugh in.

“That he’s been getting all tense all of a sudden, it’s weird.” 

“Leave him be,” Kaito chimed in, “Something probably happened that we don’t know about.” Kaede pressed her lips together and shut her book. Loudly.

“Woah!” said Maki, “You alright?”

“No,  of course not!” Kaede slumped down in her seat, “I don’t think Shuichi started acting like this out of the blue.”

Maki and Kaito shot glances at each other.

“What do you mean?” asked Kaito, but by his pace sounded a lot more like “whaddayamean?” 

Before replying, Kaede took out her phone and looked down at it. She sighed and handed it over to Maki who had no problem snatching it out of her hands. There, on the front screen of her phone, was a message notification:

_ Rantaro Amami: lunch tmr _

Kaito slammed Kaede’s pink cased phone on the table, lucky not to smash the screen. “Don’t tell me-”

“NO!” screamed Kaede, she put her head on the table, muffling her words. “He started texting me again a few weeks ago.”

“Again?” questioned Maki, noticing the other girl’s choice of words.

“Well, we used to date-”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Maki had her fists on the table, she gestured towards Kaito. “You told him?”

“It was in middle school! Plus, Momota-kun found out because he was snooping through my phone. And now we’re here and Amami-kun-”

“Wants you back?” said Kaito, assuming the end of the sentence.

“Precisely,” replied Kaede, who lifted her head. “And now I feel bad because I think that’s why Shuichi’s all weird. He’s just being protective.”

Kaito scoffed, “Yeah nah. That guy’s been in love with you since day one! He obviously jealous...” Realizing what he had just said, he cupped his mouth. 

Kaede tilted her head to the side and gave a questioning look to the astronaut, “What do you mean?”

\-- --

_ 21 MINUTES… _

_ 20 MINUTES… _

_ 19 MINUTES… _

“FUCKIN’ HELL!” screamed Miu, throwing her tool across the room.

Tsumugi popped her head out of the toolbox and rushed over the Miu’s side. “Is he going to be okay?”

Miu slammed her hand on the robot, “Well not if this damn timer keeps going.”

_ 18 MINUTES… _

“LITTLE DIPSHIT!” Tsumugi backed away as Miu was throwing tools all over the room before finally settling with one and getting back to work. She opened a compartment on the chest part of the robot and yanked a part out. “The fuck you do to him anyway?”

The cosplayer trembled, reluctant to answer but she knew Miu well enough to know she gets what she wants. “H-he asked me to help him,” she stuttered, taking her time with each word. “He couldn’t find you, so he thought I could run maintenance checks, he took me through every step. But yet, something went wrong and then-”

_ 17 MINUTES… _

“Yeah, that.”

Miu pressed a couple of buttons before swearing under her breath and pulling out another piece, “Aha! This should do it,” she exclaimed as she took out a very small piece, practically the size of a jewel that Tsumugi had used for one of her cosplay costumes. She wondered what it was but her train of thought was soon interrupted by a loud screech from Keebo. 

_ ACCELERATED COUNTDOWN TIMER ACTIVATED _

 

_ 9 MINUTES…  _

“AHH!” shouted Tsumugi, as she rushed towards the stunned inventor.

“I-I-I,” this time Miu was stuttering, uncommon for someone who acted so high and mighty. Her face drained of colour suddenly froze, before, with a loud thud, was on the floor.

“Just great,” said Tsumugi, standing over Miu’s unconscious body. She took a deep breath and picked up a tool. 

\-- -- 

“You needed money?” asked Shuichi, who was leaning on the door frame going into the tennis pro player’s lab.

“Y’know, you should come in and stop looking like a douche in that position.”

Shuichi quickly flinched from the door frame, before stepping into the lab. It was big, bigger than his at least, a large tennis court painted out in the middle. Covering the entire sides of the lab were bleachers that were still new and shiny. In the farthest corner from him was a small empty trophy case that had been broken with a blunt object.

Ryoma cleared his throat, “Okay, I need more than what you think I need.”

Shuichi laughed, “I mean my number’s pretty big right now-”

“No, no, no. These guys want more than you can think, replied the shorter boy who was in his usual blue and black outfit.

“‘These guys’?” asked Shuichi, not being the type to assume such things.

Ryoma sighed and walked over to the closet bleacher. He sat down while gesturing for Shuichi to do the same. Shuichi shook his head but walked closer to him.

“The guys who bailed me out... of jail.” Shuichi had almost forgotten he had been in jail once, oh how time flies.

“So…” he held onto his word, “What does that have to do anything with me?”

“Oh Shuichi,” the tennis player smiled, “It has everything to do with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who thought staying up late to finish a chapter when they have a test tomorrow was a good idea? *points at self*


	5. Tick Tock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a timer on each student here at Hope's Peak Academy, it's just a matter of whose will strike zero first.

Shuichi stood, almost in a trance, what was it about him, a simple ultimate at Hope’s Peak Academy, have to do with a large sum of money and a murderer? He opened his mouth to speak but yet couldn’t exactly form proper words.

“M-m-me?” He stuttered after a short wait, when he was finally able to form words again.

Ryoma smiled, and stood up but stayed in the same spot. “Yes, you. Do you see anyone else here?” He gestured around the empty lab. “Now, shall we?” He headed over to a wall that Shuichi hadn’t seen because of where he stood. Ryoma appeared with two tennis rackets, a blue one, and a red one.

“I’ll take the red,” replied Shuichi, thinking that the tennis pro would want his signature colour.

Ryoma raised a brow, “You sure?” He held the racket out to him and Shuichi firmly gripped it.

“I’m sure.”

“Alrighty then,” said Ryoma who stepped onto the court. He had a ball in his hand and was ready in a serving stance. Shuichi stepped on over to the other side of the court and stood with his legs apart and both hands clutching onto the handle of the racquet. Ryoma threw his ball up high for his height, but still managed to hit it at lightning speed and land right on Shuichi’s forehead. The detective rubbed at the spot, which was turning red, and groaned in pain.

“Oops,” said Ryoma in his usual monotone voice, “sorry bout’ that.”

Shuichi shook his head, “No, no, it’s fine.” He hesitated for sports vocabulary he could use, “Play on?”

Ryoma nodded, picked out another ball from his pocket, and threw it up high once more. He jumped and flung his racquet across the court hitting Shuichi (again) but this time in the stomach. Shuichi fell to the ground as the racquet flew off to the side. The fallen detective put his hands up in a ‘T’ but Ryoma laughed and shook his head.

“Uh-uh, we’re only getting started,” he said as he picked up another racquet.

\-- --

Kaede looked at Kaito, then at Maki, and back at Kaito; both of whom were avoiding eye-contact with her. “Guys?”

“Um,” replied Kaito immediately, “well-”

“Just disregard everything he just said,” said Maki, “he’s a dumbass.”

“Hey!”

Maki shrugged, “Just stating the facts.”

Kaede cleared her throat to get their attention, as they were almost at each other’s throats. “Back to the point, please.”

Kaito raised both hands like puppets and simulated them kissing with Maki slapping him in order for him to stop. Kaede shook her head, “That, did not help whatsoever.”

Kaito leaned back, putting a hand around Maki’s chair. “Y’know, with all three of us combined we have six hands meaning-”

“If you’re going to fucking say an orgy I swear,” said Maki.

“I wasn’t! Honest!”

Maki rolled her eyes, which soon landed on the area behind Kaede. Kokichi was walking up to them, wearing his normal scarf and chef looking outfit as well as an evil grin.

“Look who’s here and queer,” Kaito muttered, nodding towards Kokichi.

Kokichi sat down in Shuichi’s empty seat and continued to grin, “Trouble in paradise perhaps?”

“None of your business,” replied Kaede, who was scooting as far away from Kokichi as she could on her chair.

“Nonsense! I know what you three were talking about~” Kokichi laughed.

“So,” said Maki trying to challenge him with her tone of voice, “what were we talking about?”

“Neeheehee, do you really think I not know?” The ultimate supreme leader pointed at the pianist beside him, “You used to date Rantaro and now-he wants you back!”

“H-how did you know?”

“Oh my God--” Kokichi cupped his hands around his mouth and pretended not to laugh really hard.

“YOU PIECE OF--” Kaito yelled, before being glared at by multiple librarians.

“Neeheehee~! Catch you guys later!” Kokichi winked and headed out of the back door of the library.

\-- --

_Hope’s Peak Academy - Private Messaging_

 

_Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has logged in. (8:51 PM)_

_Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has invited Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭]_

_Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭], has logged in. (8:53 PM)_

 

himiko٭: you wanted to talk?

SponByPanta: maybe…

himiko٭: *is about to log out*

SponByPanta: okAY WAIT

SponByPanta: can you invite your girlfriend

himiko٭: tenko?

SponByPanta: yea her

_Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭], has invited Chabashira, Tenko [Tenko]_

SponByPanta: no obligations that’s a first

himiko٭: imma just watch it all play out

_Chabashira, Tenko [Tenko], has logged in (8:54 PM)_

Tenko: yumeno-san?

_Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has kicked Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭]._

SponByPanta: sup fam

Tenko: yOU FILTHY MALE WHAT DID YOU DO TO HeR

_Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has changed Chabashira, Tenko [Tenko]’s username to i like to suck cock and i cannot lie_

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: KDSJFNLKJDSM,X

SponByPanta: i was going to add ‘YOU OTHER SISTERS CAN’T DENY WHEN A GUY WALKS IN WITH A REALLY CHISELED FACE AND A BIG DICK IN YOUR FACE YOU GIVE THE SUCC’ but it didn’t fit the character limit

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: i thought twitter doubled it

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: anyways

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: CHANGE MY NAME BACK YOU MENACE!!!!!

SponByPanta: cant you do it yourself?

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: um

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: i dont know how...

SponByPanta: heh

SponByPanta: well if you don’t want to be exposed to the whole school, meet me before the exam tomorrow, 7AM sharp

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: huh?

SponByPanta: bye~

_Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has logged out. (8:55 PM)_

_Chabashira, Tenko [i like to suck cock and i cannot lie], has logged out. (8:55 PM)_

\-- --

_3 MINUTES…_

“Shitty, chicken gang bang,” groaned Miu as she sat up. A trail of sparks landed to her right where Keebo was. She turned her head to face the sparks. Tsumugi, tool in one hand, was sticking her tool in the robot’s torso, obviously not knowing what she was doing.

Tsumugi struggled with the tool, dropping it multiple times. Miu thought she was just being clumsy but then realized, her glasses weren’t on her. Miu shot up, “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOUR GLASSES?”

The cosplayer turned around, the tool in her hand dropping for the fifthteenth time, “I lost them.”

Miu trembled with anger, “Aren’t you practically blind? WHAT GOOD WILL YOU DO WITHOUT YOUR SHIT GLASSES?”

_2 MINUTES…_

Tsumugi gasped, “No time now for complaining,” she said, tossing Miu a tool a narrowly missing her head. Miu got up and grabbed the tool from behind her. She walked up to Tsumugi and pushed her away from the robot. She cracked her neck, back, and knuckles.

“Let’s do this shit, motherfuckers.”

Miu, by instinct, plunged deep into the robot, twisting her hand at certain points. Tsumugi stood to the side and watch Miu’s arm slowly being devoured by the robot. The inventor swore multiple times under her breath, even kicking the robot’s legs as if it would react to being reprimanded

“Almost-there,” she said as plunged more of her arm into the robot.

“I didn’t know Keebo’s torso was that thick,” Tsumugi replied, trying not to think of the _thicc_ meme.

“That’s the thing,” said Miu as the removed her arm, now painted with black, out of the robot, “it’s not.”

_1 MINUTE…_

“Oh Jesus,” said Miu as she started to violently bang the robot with his hand.

“Now, what are you doing!?” screamed Tsumugi and she flailed her arms up and down.

“I, could only go down with my arm-so low,” said Miu over the noise her hand and the robot made. “If the tool falls straight down, it should trigger an emergency switch implanted inside him.”

“Why couldn’t you just open some part of him up and then switch it-?”

“BECAUSE THAT STUPID DOCTOR MADE SURE THAT ONLY HE COULD FIND THAT DAMN COMPARTMENT AND I ONLY KNOW ABOUT THE SWITCH BECAUSE THE ROBOT TOLD ME!”

Tsumugi backed away from Miu who was now furiously hitting the robot with both hands now.

“Calm down!”

_30 SECONDS…_

Miu turned her head, “DOES IT SOUND LIKE I CAN FUCKING CALM DOWN?”

“Iruma-san!”

But suddenly a parade of sparks erupted, till the entire room was lit up, and all Tsumugi and Miu could see was white.

\-- --

“Hoshi-kun, please, what are you doing?” pleaded Shuichi. The detective was now sitting with his back against the wall, hat off and face full of bruises from the balls that have quote-unquote ‘missed’. Ryoma walked up to him, swinging a racquet in one hand, and laughed.

“The real question is, do you remember what you did?”

Shuichi squinted at him, “what do you mean what did I do?”

The tennis player walked up closer till he was at Shuichi’s feet, “Tell me a story. the story of how you got your title; the ultimate detective.”

The bruised boy swallowed and began his little tale, “I-I stumbled across a murder scene one day.”

“Then what?” interrupted Ryoma, pretending to be intrigued.

“I solved it before the police could, never got to see an actual photo of the culprit without his mask though.”

Ryoma stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a photo. “It’s your lucky day.” He turned to photo to reveal a picture of himself, dressed in normal clothing and a taller girl next to him.

Shuichi pointed to the boy in the photo, “That’s you.”

The other boy nodded in return and pointed to the girl next to him in the photo, “You see her? My sister. Had a husband for a couple of years before he started getting abusive.”

“But what does this have to do with the murder I solved?”

The tennis pro laughed, as he snatched away the photo and put it soundly in his pocket again. “When her husband was murdered, I went to his trial and pleaded for his innocence. Now, why would I do that?  Explain, Mr. Detective.”

Shuichi closed his eyes, trying to put himself in a thinking state so he could stitch all the little pieces together. _The culprit must be in the photo,_ he thought. _Hoshi said it himself-he also said the ‘man’ when referring to the culprit._ _But there was only one man in the photo-_. He opened his eyes again to see Ryoma still standing in the same position as before, eyes set on Shuichi.

“Well,” he said, breaking the silence, “figured it out yet?”

Shuichi looked up so their eyes met, “You killed him.”

Ryoma clapped slowly and chuckled. The sound of his hands slapping together echoed through the empty tennis court. “Congrats, perhaps I should give you a prize.”

“S-so, I-I,” he pointed at himself, “put you in jail?”

“Precisely, and during my jail time, my sister got a tad bit lonely and resorted to suicide. Do you want to know how she died?”

Shuichi shook his head.

“She overdosed, on sleeping pills. Her suicide note that was sent to me said that she wanted to be put to rest. Y’know, to end her suffering after all the abuse she went through.”

Shuichi questioned his motive, “so then what’s the money for?”

“Tch-tch-tch. As a detective, you should’ve figured it out by now. I couldn’t have been bailed out. I murdered someone. There’s no money involved. It just was bait that you fell for.”

Shuichi straightened his back against the wall, he felt Ryoma’s gaze sink into his skin yet the tennis pro wasn’t moving any closer.

“So just revenge?”

Ryoma walked around Shuichi till he was standing over his torso, “My sister overdosed because you put me in jail, and now it’s time to put you to rest.”

\-- --

_*BOOM*_

A loud noise seeped into the library, causing books to come crashing down, hitting some unexpecting victims. “What was that?” Maki asked sharply. The three of them looked at each other before swiftly getting up from their seats and heading for the door, where a large crowd had already starting squishing through the doors. The group hurried through the crowds and appeared at the top of the staircase in the main building in which a sea of students had already caved around the entrance to the room where the sound came from. They were each holding out their phones, perhaps posting it on social media, and were whispering to one another.

_“Who do you think was in there?”_

_“Bitch-you know this is gonna go viral.”_

_“If Miu’s in there getting it on with that robot do you think she’d let me join?”_

“MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!” yelled Kaito, who held Maki’s hand and guided both her and Kaede to the front of the crowd. After a while they finally made it to the door, where they could see clearly two figures on the floor and one standing over them. Kaede was leaning on the door frame which felt warm, she figured it was from whatever went on inside.

“Hey-” said a voice from beside her, she spun around in the cramped space and was face-to-face with Rantaro. Maki and Kaito took wind of the boy’s entrance and looked at each other. Kaede’s eyes widened as the lost her balance and fell into Rantaro, he stood still as Kaede’s instincts made her tug on the green haired boy’s shirt. Kaede had both arms wrapped around Rantaro, she quickly let go and regained her balance.

“Oh hey, Amami-kun,” she said, blushing from the encounter.

He bit his lip and looked through the doorway, “something terrible must’ve happened.”

“Yea-”

“GET A MOVE ON, DIPSHITS!’ Miu screamed as she and Tsumugi appeared from the doorway, they looked perfectly fine except for the black smudges that appeared on Miu’s arm. Tsumugi followed quietly behind Miu as they made their way through the crowd, heading for the girl’s bathroom on the other side of the hallway.

A teacher came running up to them, consoling Tsumugi and attempting to calm down Miu, who merely pushed the teacher’s arm away. The cosplayer apologized to the teacher and continued to follow Miu on the way to the bathroom.

“Everyone get to bed!” said the teacher which made the crowd slowly disperse. Kaede, Maki, Kaito, and Rantaro still stood by the doorway. A larger figure stood right in front of them and simply continued to stand in front of them. Rantaro was the first to speak.

“Hello?”

“HELLO, MY NAME IS K1-B0. BUT YOU MAY ADDRESS ME AS KEEBO.”

Kaede smiled, “Hey Keebo!”

The robot stepped out of the darkness and into the light, he looked as new as ever. “Hey, Akamatsu-san. Have you seen Saihara-kun?”

She shook her head, “Not since,” she glanced at the clock that read _9 PM_ , “like 8:40.”

“AHHHHHHH!” screamed a voice that rippled through the room. The voice was faint as if it was coming from somewhere far.

“Based on my voice recognition, I presume that is him.”

Kaito laughed, “you have a voice recognition system? Dude, that’s lit-”

Maki elbowed him, “the main point is that Saihara might be screaming what he has left of his life upstairs.”

Kaito faced her, “and how would you know he’s screaming for his life?”

Maki rubbed her neck and looked at the ground, “I’ve heard it before.”

The astronaut shrugged, “y’all heard her, GO!”

And the five of them rushed up the stairs, including Keebo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this chapter was long-
> 
> also side note: sorry if some of the information in the ryoma & shuichi conversation (how shuichi got his title) don't match up with the official canon info, i tried to match it as closely as i could but some of the canon stuff didn't fit in with the family tree and kind of thing i was going fo (that's what au is for i guess)


	6. Deep In The Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emotions racing and blood pumping...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's probably lots of errors in this because i didn't have time to edit it thoroughly (meaning i didn't have the willpower to and wanted to publish another chapter asap)

Ryoma stood right beside Shuichi, who was coughing blood out furiously. Pink smudges stained patches of his black uniform which slowly seeped in to stain his white undershirt. The tennis pro still had a racquet in his hand, but insteading of being a metallic blue it was now dripping in pink. Balls that Ryoma had used rolled across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind. 

“AHHHHHHH!” Shuichi screamed with his burning throat, trying to grasp someone’s attention from the commotion coming from downstairs, but the only one he had gotten the attention from was Ryoma who lifted his racquet and then-

_ *WHAM* _

Ryoma planted a large swing on Shuichi’s head, causing blood to cascade down his face from his nose and lip. He pointed to him, “You should shut up because if anyone tries to save you, they won’t be leaving this room.” Shuichi winced as the pain from the latest hit was slowly fading away. Ryoma looked at him sternly before heading off out of sight.

_ This is it, _ Shuichi thought,  _ if I run fast enough I could actually escape and get to Kaede. _ The detective smiled at the thought of escaping but soon realized he wasn’t smiling because he knew he could escape, he smiled because he knew Kaede was out there; safe and sound. Shuichi pushed up with whatever strength he still had but succumbed to his fractured bones.  

Ryoma came back into Shuichi’s field of view holding the racquet he had earlier but this time he was accompanied by a roll of duct tape. He walked back up to Shuichi and set his racquet down; Ryoma crouched next to Shuichi’s face and placed a strip of duct tape across his mouth. Shuichi struggled as the stickiness encapsulated his mouth, causing any sound coming from him to be muffled completely. Ryoma picked up the racquet once again and held it in a stance, “You had it coming,” and he swung as hard as he could.

\-- -- 

Kaede hopped up two steps at once, while the others followed shortly behind sprinting as fast as they can. Keebo (being a robot) quickly flew up the stairs and took the lead on their quest to save Shuichi. The gang sprinted through the hallways, occasionally hitting a door or two to see if Shuichi was anywhere to be found.

“Shuichi!” screamed Kaede, the rest of the group using his last name to address him.  Naturally they split off into groups, Maki with Kaito, Rantaro and Kaede, and Keebo went off alone as he did most of the time. Maki and Kaito began checking the rooms in the main corridor, opening each door more than twice to make sure there wasn’t any secret entrances, as Kaito would put it.

Kaito walked to a small door near the staircase, it was made out of some sort of dark wood that had light patches painted on. He slowly pushed it with  caution. “Harumaki! In here,” he shouted. Maki came jogging to him and went straight into the small, cramped room where Kaito soon followed. The room was a bit bigger than it seemed from the outside, but it was only enough to fit the both of them with a little bit of gapage. It was dimly lit with a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. Kaito shut the door.

Maki looked around the room, “Uhh, Kaito I don’t think this is the right room.”

Kaito raised a brow and smirked but Maki just shook her head, “Don’t give me that look.”

“What look?” the astronaut replied.

“You know, the ‘I’m on to something so I’m going to smirk and raise my brow’ look.”

Kaito’s expression somehow became more intrigued than before, “Is that how you think of it?”

She nodded.

Kaito laughed and cupped her face with both of his hands. His hands felt warm against her cheeks which turned a bright red from blushing. Kaito’s right thumb began to slowly rub her cheekbone as he leaned in for their lips to touch. Maki pulled away but then saw the boyish expression on his face, the kind you’d see a middle schooler boy stare at girls with, and tilted her head to lean in.

Maki laughed in between kisses as Kaito pushed her against the back wall. He slowly went down her neck, being careful not to miss a spot, before pushing her against the wall hard enough for it to suddenly open. The two pulled away and looked at the wall; it had been pushed away to reveal a secret corridor. The couple shot glances at each other before taking each other’s hand and walked into the darkness together. 

As they walked in, they soon noticed the vent like appearance of the corridor before Kaito came up with a conclusion. “This whole corridor is just one big vent isn’t it?”

“Vents aren’t made for people,” argued Maki, who was cautiously making her way through the corridor thanks to her assassin instincts. 

“Yeah, but what if this one is made for us to walk in?” Kaito pulled out his phone to use as a flashlight as the path got darker.

Maki scoffed, “Okay so what, someone builds this huge vent for humans out of the blue and makes it a secret? Kaito, it’s not like there’s some mastermind behind the school planning every single detail about what happens here.”

“Well-fine you win.”

Maki held her fist up as a sign for Kaito to shut up and he did just so. She slowed down, only taking baby steps as a faint voice came into her ear. “This way,” she pointed to separate corridor that extended from the right of the main one, Kaito followed Maki as she sped up into a sprint. They ended up looking through a grate of sorts over a room with a single tennis court. 

Kaito leaned in to Maki’s ear and whispered, “that looks like Hoshi’s lab.”

Maki shushed him, “well this is where the sound was coming from.”

“So it’s either that Saihara and Hoshi are having great sex, or someone’s getting hurt.”

Maki, rationalizing the situation, shook her head in disappointment and sighed, “I believe it’s the second option.”

Maki tried to look from each angle she could until she could get small glimpses of a tennis racquet covered in blood being swung back and forth. She pulled Kaito in so he could see. “I’m pretty sure we know who’s swinging-”

But before she could finish her sentence, Kaito was already furiously banging on the grate desperately trying to get it to budge. He swore under his breath as the whole thing came out with one forceful push. The jump was high, a good 15 feet off the ground, but Kaito, being Kaito, took a deep breath and jumped, Maki watching the whole thing play out. “Kaito!” she shouted, looking over the edge where she saw Kaito, brushing his sleeves off and sprinting towards Ryoma and Shuichi.

“You motherfucker!” he yelled as he ran closer and closer to them.

Maki stared at the drop, even as an assassin, the one thing she’s afraid of is heights. How you just drop through air to feel free but then the ground’s always there to take that freeness away from you. She backed away from the edge but stayed in a position where she could see Ryoma turn around to face Kaito who was running towards him with a fist in the air. In response, Ryoma lifted his racquet.

“NO!” Maki cupped her hand around her mouth as a single tear dropped from the corner of her eye to her mouth. She tasted the saltiness of the tear as it seeped through her lips and onto her tongue and realized- she was crying for him.

\-- --

Kaede and Rantaro took one of the smaller hallways on the floor, the one with all the labs. Each of them ran down the sides, opening each door with so much force causing it to ricochet off the wall and slam shut once more. They met up at the last door at the end of the hallway, one that they haven’t checked out yet. Rantaro scratched his head.

“I don’t think he’s in here.”

Kaede squinted at him, “Why not?”

He placed his ear gently on the door, “No screaming.”

Kaede did the same, closing her eyes in disappointment. “We won’t be able to find him, will we?” she asked, tears already blurring her vision.

Rantaro stood back up and gently place his arm on her shoulder, “Hey, don’t say that. I’m sure he’s safe.”

Kaede leaned against the wall beside the door and ran a hand through her blonde hair, “I mean, I want to think he’s safe but, the universe doesn’t necessarily like me that much.”

“Oh come’on,” said Rantaro, “if the universe doesn’t love you I can list a number of people who do.”

She turned her head to face him, he was now leaning on the door itself, “Like who?”

Rantaro shifted closer to Kaede, as she stared intently at his lips. They had dated at such a young age while their brains were still developing that the taste of his lips were implanted forever in her brain, and just like a drug she craved it. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to wait any longer to satisfy that craving. Before she knew it, his lips were pressed against her’s but not in a forceful way, almost as if it was meant to be like that. He pulled away after a few seconds, blushing in contrast to his green hair.

Kaede opened her eyes a few moments after they pulled away, she smiled guiltily, knowing Shuichi was somewhere out there possibly getting hurt.  “Rantaro,” she whispered, “I-”

He placed a hand over her mouth, “Can’t? It’s okay, Kaede.” 

Kaede opened her mouth to speak as she watched Rantaro face straight ahead but a voice from the inside cut through their silence. The voice was unrecognizable from the outside, but Kaede could tell it had a feminine tone. Rantaro stood alert to take in the situation but Kaede went to the door and pushed on it, locked. Being in a panic mode, the pianist took a silver music note hair pin from her hair and proceeded to jam it in between the door and the wall on where the lock inserted itself into the door. The hair pin, despite being light, was proved to be quite sturdy as it separated the lock and the wall with no problem, letting Kaede push it forward with one quick forceful motion. The both of them ran into the room. 

“Shuichi!” Kaede shouted, as she surveyed the room. She started running towards him before a hand stopped her. Rantaro’s.

“Kaede, look closer,” said Rantaro, and so she did. Ryoma, racquet in one hand, stood staring at her. Around his feet were two large figures; with looking closely Kaede was able to identify them as Kaito’s and Shuichi’s. She turned to face Rantaro who held his hands up as if to surrender. She pointed a shaky finger at him.

“Y-you, knew about- _ this _ , didn’t you?”

Rantaro stood silently.

“THAT’S WHY YOU DIDN’T WANT TO GO IN HERE!” Kaede shouted as she planted a hard slap across Rantaro’s face. He flinched a bit but quickly came back to his senses. She could hear Ryoma laughing behind her.

“Ah,” said the tennis pro, throwing the racquet up in the air and catching it when it went back down, “Amami, I see you have brought a guest. I thought you said we only meet here when it’s only between the both of us?”

“Don’t throw me under the bus like this Hoshi, we had a deal,” refuted Rantaro whose face was boiling with anger. Despite this, Ryoma simple shrugged.

“So what? If I throw you on top or in front of the bus it won’t make much of a difference.”

Rantaro swore under his breath, “Anyways, I thought you said you wouldn’t kill him?” 

Ryoma gestured to the two bodied lying beside each other,“I got my revenge, and that’s all I have to say,” he said as he started to walk towards the door. “Now excuse me, if you want to make it to the December holidays, I suggest you don’t try and report me. Cause I’ll do something  _ much _ worse.” But before he could move an inch a shadowy figure came down right behind Ryoma himself.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

\-- --

Himiko and Gonta sat down in the AV room, despite being 9:39 PM on a exam night they still decided to stay up and watch the finale of the hit reality dating show,  _ Danganronpa: Love Scene Investigation.  _ A show where a bunch of detectives come to find their true love, but in order to find them they must follow a bunch of clues. It was already on it’s 53rd season, but both Himiko and Gonta only started watching it together from the 32rd season (which in Himiko’s opinion was the best season). 

The finale was getting intense, with each detective were on their final clue on finding their true love. Himiko lurched forward as her favourite soon to be couple were walking to their final destination to find each other but it soon switched to  commercial break. “WHYY?!” she shouted in frustration.

“Gonta still do not understand show.”

The magician sighed and slumped on the sofa and started to explain the whole thing once again to Gonta for the 37th time that week (she counted). “So basically, before this whole thing goes down they take a test to see who they will be paired with during the show. When the show starts they are given a clue each episode to help them find who their true love is. Whichever pair finds each other first wins the first place prize of a dream wedding and honeymoon-all expenses paid for by the show.” 

“Ah!” said Gonta in delight, “Gonta  understand now. But why can’t they find love like everyone else?”

“Because they want the prize,” replied Himiko who start to munch on a bowl of popcorn bigger than her torso.

“Got it!” exclaimed Gonta, who quickly shut his lips as soon as the commercials were over.

The show started again as Korekiyo walked into the room, looking as confused at why Gonta was watching a dating show with Himiko. “You two okay?” he asked in his soft but deep voice, “You should be heading to sleep, we our second mid-year exams tomorrow.”

Himiko yawned, “Just wait, lemme finish this show it’s almost over anyways.”

“Me too!” added Gonta.

“Hey,” said Himiko, realizing something, “Why aren’t you asleep?”

Korekiyo laughed, “I merely woke up from my slumber a few minutes ago, thought I would walk around for a bit.”

Himiko raised a brow, “really?”

The anthropologist rolled his eyes, “Okay, scoot over. My sister wants to watch this show.”

\-- -- 

Ryoma spun around and looked Maki in the eye despite their height difference. Maki, poised like an assassin, had a throwing knife pointed straight at his heart. It was a small, thin knife, yet the daunting colour choice of red to fit her theme made it seem a whole lot more deadly; but Ryoma just smiled. 

“Nice of you to join us, Miss. Ultimate Assassin,” he said with a devilish smirk in his face. Kaede turned to her.

“Ultimate- _ Assassin?” _ the pianist asked, confused-with a tinge of disappointment that made it sting even more. 

Maki shook her head to focus on the real situation on hand, she took a deep breath. This is what she had been trained for, well, the killing aspect anyway, not the motive. Usually she murder for money, but now she murder for him.  _ Her _ Kaito. She smiled at the thought having Kaito, and how he wouldn’t give up no matter how impossible it is. Maki lifted her skirt up a bit with her hand; trying to grab onto a second knife tucked away in a small compartment on the inside of her skirt.

“Trying to seduce me I see? Sorry, I’m taken.”

Maki gritted her teeth as anger rose from her feet to her visibly red cheeks as she got hold of the second knife and quickly hid her hand behind her back. 

“Don’t move.”

Ryoma smirked. “Like this?” he said as he made a dash for the door.

Then the knives went flying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so i know i've been mainly focusing on kaede, shuichi, kaito and maki but i promise the other characters will have their time in the spotlight as well! they'll just have to wait till shuichi and ryoma's shenanigans are over (or if they'll ever be over...)


	7. Bright Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no chapter summary for this one-it speaks for itself

Rantaro stood still watching both knives simultaneously leaving Maki’s hands and straight for the tennis pro’s heart. The knives still were aimed perfectly though he was running, as if they were moving by themselves. Rantaro bit his lip and glanced at Kaede, who was running towards Maki in order to stop her, but the damage had already been done; or about to be done. He looked to his left, then to his right, as if he were about to cross the street. As if the world slowed down, the ultimate survivor stepped on the path of the knives. 

The knives struck Rantaro in the heart with an unsatisfying splatter of blood falling on the floor. He stood, shaky, and wiped some of the blood away before smiling and ultimately collapsing to the floor. Kaede ran up to bleeding Rantaro, who was on his last and final breaths. The pianist kneeled against him, tears streaming down her cheeks mixing with the pink blood. She grabbed his hand; it was almost as if she was holding handfuls of ice but it didn’t matter to her.

“Rantaro-” she muttered as Maki came up behind her and placed a hand on her back. Kaede flinched and turned back, Maki pulled her hand away. “What do you want now?” she asked in an unusual tone. It wasn’t like Kaede to use a firm tone on anyone for that matter, but Maki could see that she had truly cared for Rantaro; maybe even more than she did for Shuichi in that moment. Kaede’s sobs echoed through the room, but this didn’t help. Rantaro’s eyes were glued to the ceiling and had no intention of moving any time soon. 

Ryoma saw this as an opportunity to finally escape the scene of the crime, hoping to pin it on the girls. He grinned at everyone in the room before making those last final steps to the door. The tennis pro took a deep breath and reassured himself,  _ everything is back to normal; this is the way things are meant to be. _ He pushed the door only to be greeted with a swarm of lights, not the camera kind, but the police kind. Two spotlights were set on the door, as to blind whoever stepped out and it worked. Ryoma shielded his eyes from the lights.

“Ryoma Hoshi?” said a stern voice very loudly as if it was coming through a megaphone. “You’re under arrest for assaulting and attempting to murder Shuichi Saihara and Kaito Momota.”

\-- --

Maki looked down at Kaede who was still crying, then she took a glance at Rantaro’s dead body. Lifeless, so many have been like him because of her. All those countless lives she had taken. So many tears have been shed, blood have been bled.  _ Because of me, _ she thought. Maki moved her attention to the door, she knew that both her and Kaede have heard the police and how they arrest Ryoma. Yes, he did deserve that for hurting Kaito and Shuichi, but how would Maki get away with it? She had unintentionally murdered an innocent man. Now that she thought about it, the only reason she was able to go on from those assassinations was because those people weren’t innocent, they were  _ guilty. _ But the ultimate survivor wasn’t, he was innocent. Someone Maki swore to not kill when he took up the job. 

She remembered the moment fairly clearly and tried to visualize it in her head. A young Maki, around 14 or 15, sat at the end of a long black table in a dark room. Multiple security cameras were installed in many different angles, an overkill if you ask her. On the other end of the table was a man in a dark suit, someone she had recognized come into the orphanage a few times. He wore a bright red tie in contrast to his black blazer. A large suitcase sat on the desk; he slowly opened it and turned it around to show Maki. In it, was multiple stacks of hundred dollar bills (weird, considering they were in Japan). She estimated each stack had around 100 bills, and there were 20 stacks in total. $200,000. To a kid? Maki questioned her needy instincts to accept the money.  _ If only, _ she thought,  _ I wouldn’t have taken the money. I would be a better person. I wouldn’t have met anyone here, everything would be fine. _

Maki quickly snapped back into the present, Kaede was still weeping over Rantaro’s dead body, Shuichi and Kaito were still unconscious and possibly dead, and Ryoma was being arrested. Shouting from the hallway only grew louder, almost taunting Maki.  _ There’s still something I can do to make this right. _

She walked towards the door but before she reached it, a group of doctors carrying to stretchers swarmed in, all of them carrying at least one type of self defense item. They walked around Maki, as if they were programmed to. The assassin continued to walk outside the door and was also greeted by the blinding lights Ryoma had been exposed to; the only thing was they didn’t hurt as much as what she was about to do. Multiple police were just finishing restraining and handcuffing Ryoma, who was against the wall will multiple red shock marks along his temple.  _ I’ve never been caught before, why this? _ She thought, almost getting cold feet. Maki took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“I murdered Rantaro Amami.”

\-- -- 

_ A FEW DAYS LATER _

Shuichi sat up weakly in his hospital bed. He winced in pain as the pressure on his arms became too much. Shuichi sighed and leaned against the headboard. He had been admitted a few days before, but he had been unconscious till yesterday. The last thing he remembered was Ryoma standing in front of him with a racket in hand. A nurse had come in multiple times throughout the day, looking more worried than his parents, asking him if he had enough pain killers. Shuichi always said no but now he thought he might need more of them.

His parents had been notified about the incident but weren’t able to go town due to some business event that they had to attend (which was apparently more important than their child who had just been beaten up by one of their classmates.) Kaito had been in the hospital bed next to Shuichi’s, but was released since they found out he had been faking the whole unconscious thing just to make it seem convincing enough for the tennis pro, who was probably going to actually kill him if he hadn’t faked it.

Shuchi glanced at a book by his side table which had been full of different gifts including the clichéd ‘ _ Get Better! _ ’ balloons, a few mystery novels and his signature hat that Kirumi had kindly brought. His parents walked into his room by surprise, accompanying them was a woman whom Shuichi had never seen before. This woman had long purple hair and a matching colour scheme for her clothing. She looked no more than three years older than himself. His parents came to his side.

“Hey Shuichi,” said his mom. “Look, there’s someone we want you to meet. She’s a detective and she’s going to be working on this case okay?”

Shuichi looked confused, “My  _ case? _ Why would I have a case?”

His dad was next to speak as if they had been planning what they were going to say in the hallway. “We’re suing the school.”

Shuichi sat in silence, stunned. His parents risked a lot sending him to this school and now they’re suing? What are they going to dub him in the hallways? The privileged detective who sued the school just because he doesn’t know how to defend himself? “Why?”

“I don’t think ‘suing’ would be the right term for what we’re doing,” chimed in the strange woman who was still by the door. She walked to the end of the bed. “We need to investigate why that boy did what he did, and if it’s enough evidence to lead us to a certain conclusion, then we can consider a lawsuit against the school for endangering a student.”

The room stayed silent for a bit.

“Oh-sorry. I’m Kyoko Kirigiri, detective and former student at Hope’s Peak Academy.”

\-- --

“Damnit! Maki, why did you have to do that?” asked Kaito through the phone thing they had at prison visiting centers. Maki had been kept there since the night of the incident, her trial was to be held in two days. Since the incident, mid-term exams have been cancelled as school officials have decided that there had been enough drama for the students to handle, especially before winter break. Maki gripped the telephone as she had gripped those knives. If only she had kept gripping them.

She looked down, she couldn’t bare to face Kaito after what she did. His eyes, Maki could feel them staring her down, were full of disappointment. She had even taken to note that he called her her proper first name instead his usual playful nickname. “I, I had to.”

Kaito placed a hand gently on the glass separating them. “Harumaki, no you didn’t.”

She swallowed and shook her head, “You don’t understand? I already explained this to you before didn’t I?” said Maki, raising her voice.

“Time’s up Haruwaka,” said the guard who was watching over the visiting room. Maki put the phone back in it’s holder and waved slyly at Kaito, who still had his palm on the glass. She got up and followed the guard, who would take her back to her cell.

“I’ll make things right, Maki.” Kaito muttered under his breath, careful not to let the other policemen hear. “I’ll get you out of here.”

\-- --

_ Hope’s Peak Academy - Private Messaging _

 

_ Ouma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has logged in. (12:40 PM) _

_ Chabashira, Tenko [i like to suck cock and i cannot lie], has logged in. (12:43 PM) _

 

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: soooooooooo

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: what happened to meeting up before exams?

SponByPanta: shut up im working on it 

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: oh? is that so?

SponByPanta: okay how about

SponByPanta: 8 pm tonite-my lab

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: you menace

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: just trying to take advantage of me aren’t you?

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: IF YOU TRY TO TOUCH ME IN MY DELICATES I’LL BE SURE TO KICK YOURS!

SponByPanta: calm the fuck down woman

SponByPanta: i wouldn’t want to take advantage of you

i like to suck cock and i cannot lie: phew

SponByPanta: i’d take advantage of himiko

_ An admin has shut down this chat! _

\-- --

For the next few hours, the former SHSL detective sat next to Shuichi’s bed, explaining everything that was going to happen. At first, Shuichi resented the thought of suing the school. It was his school after all. But after Kyoko Kirigiri had finished explaining everything to him, from finding a motive to Rantaro’s murder, Shuichi began seeing the situation in the way she did.

“Does that make sense, Shuichi?” she asked. He nodded.

“Uh-yeah. Thank you.” Kyoko nodded and stood up. She shot Shuichi a smile, so smile that even Shuichi had a hard time figuring out if she had actually smiled or not, and started walking towards the door.

“Kirigiri-san?”

She turned around, her long purple hair swaying along with her body. “What is it?” 

Shuichi shifted in his bed, realizing how long he had been in the same position. “You said you were a former student at the academy, why’d you agree to a case that could get the school sued?”

Kyoko laughed silently and adjusted her gloves. “Just what I expected from the new ultimate detective.”

Shuichi was able to conjure up a small smile; based on what he’s seen of her so far, she didn’t seem like the type of person to give compliments, if you could even consider that one.

She cleared her throat. “Let’s just say I have some unfinished business with the current headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry


	8. Great Depths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a day before Maki’s trial, tensions are high, and some people are willing to go deep for others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was way overdue whoops

Kaede tapped impatiently on the glass table at the local coffee shop, sipping a hot latte that burnt her tongue. The last time she had checked the time it was 2:20 PM, 20 minutes after Kaito had agreed to meet her there. She exhaled loudly in frustration and was ready to stand up but not before Kaito, forehead full of sweat, rushed into the cafe, grabbing the attention of a few other customers. He spotted Kaede all the way in the back corner and headed her way. He sat down in the chair across from her.

“What did you want?” she asked, still obviously salty about Rantaro’s death. She took another big swig of her latte, finishing it.

“Your testimony.”

Kaede scoffed, Kaito being taken back by the new attitude of hers. “And why is that? Wait-don’t tell me you’re one of those Danganronpa Love Scene Investigation fans?”

Kaito pinched his forehead. “No, no. Not that.”

“Then what?” Kaede asked, not really bothering to listen to what he had to say next.

“Well-you know how Maki’s-”

The sound of her name made Kaede flinch and shake her head. She had enough of her for the week. “What about that,” she hesitated, “bitch?”

Kaito placed both hands on the table as if to steady himself. “Okay, number one, she’s not a bitch. Number two, if you had let me finish, Maki has a trial coming up and-”

“Nope,” Kaede promptly replied, wishing she still had her latte.

“Why not?”

Kaede sighed loudly in annoyance and pulled Kaito by the collar forcefully towards her across the table. “Do you know what she did? To-to-,” a single tear streamed down her cheek as she let go of Kaito, crossed her arms and slumped back down in her seat. She looked to her right, trying to block Kaito out of her view. “Anyways, I’m not testifying. You probably know what I’m gonna say anyways.” She stood up, holding her cup, and walks out, throwing her cup in the nearest bin along the way. Kaito rushed out of his seat, almost jumping out, and began running after Kaede, who had already gotten a head start. After he finally caught up with her, she stopped and turned around to face him. His face was red, and he was panting heavily-so much for training. She stood completely erect, both hands placed firmly on her hips. Kaito lurched forward and steadied himself by putting his hands on his knees. After a while, he stopped panting and now he was looking down on her.

A smirk emerged from the dark that lit up his face. “You sure?” he said, reaching in his pocket where a little, but powerful, object hid. He flicked a part of it to reveal a sharp, pointed pocket knife. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him.

“And what are you going to do with that? Slowly cut each strand of my hair off?”

Kaito poked the tip of the knife, slowly scraping his finger on the sharp side. “Nah, I have something-- _way_ better.”

\-- --

Shuichi and Kyouko spent the morning going over his account of what had happened. They were scheduled to question Kaito tomorrow, right before Maki’s trial. His parents had to go back to Shuichi’s home town, as they had previous business commitments. Luckily, Kyouko had been by Shuichi’s side the whole time. She lay multiple files out on the table next to him.

“You can read those in your free time, they’re practice murder case files we use for trainees. Thought you could try some of them, especially the harder ones.”

Shuichi nodded, “Thank you, Kirigiri-san.”

She shrugged and sat up straight, “Anyways, did you have any question about what I just told you?”

“What relationship do you have with the headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy?”

“Uh-what?” replied Kyouko, clearly being shocked by the question.

Shuichi rubbed the back of his neck, “You know, Makoto Naegi?”

The purple-haired girl turned her head to the right, avoiding eye contact, which made Shuichi feel guilty. “I-I’m sorry if that-”

  
“No it’s fine,” she made a dismissive gesture, “I guess I would’ve had to expect the new ultimate detective to question that.”

Shuichi straightened, his back, eager of what she had to say.

“We were, once, um,” she hesitated, not knowing how to phrase such an intimate relationship to a client.

“Dating?”

Kyouko jumped in her seat and tried to regain her composure, “And how’d you figure that out?”

Shuichi shrugged, he wasn’t wearing his hat, and he felt exposed because of that. He felt relieved that Kyouko apparently felt the same way about eye contact. “Well, you kinda-”

“A good detective never says ‘kinda’. They know. Try it.”

“Um-well. You were avoiding, contact and starting to hesitate. You also mentioned previously that you had some so called ‘unfinished business’. I presumed it was a breakup that was this business.”

Kyouko resisted smiling, she didn’t see a lot of her attitudes in him, but she saw that vulnerable side that was showing; something she learnt to hide at a young age. Then she realized, they were the same, it’s just that he can’t face the truth, and she keeps rubbing it in people’s faces. She turned to face him. “Good job.”

“Ah-thank you.”

She cleared her throat silently, “Anyways, yeah, we used to.” Kyouko refrained from using “I guess”, as she knew it contradicted everything she had taught him so far.

“Was it messy?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your breakup, I mean,” said Shuichi, who was blushing brightly from the thought of the other ‘messy’ thing.

Kyouko shook her head, “Enough about me,” she placed a hand on the side of his bed, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Kyouko made a gesture, trying to signal to continue on the conversation. “You know, do you have someone in particular?” she asked, almost trying to be some sort of motherly figure to him.

He smiled, being reminded of her. “Well, there’s this one girl.”

\-- --

  
“Uh-um,” said Kaede as she backed into the alley way. Kaito was cornering her with a knife in hand a a grin painted on his face.

Kaito continued to back her up till she was backed into the farthest corner in the alleyway. At his height, he easily leaned his right arm on the wall behind her, looking down at her shaking figure. The knife was barely an inch away from her thigh. Kaede could feel his eyes slowly engraving anger into her scalp.

The boy kept quiet, as if he was depending on intimidation to convince her. And it wasn’t like he was going to kill her anyway; he couldn’t.

The girl’s eyes continued to plead, as if they were emitting words into his ears. He slowly backed up.

“Think about it,” he said, and just walked away, as if nothing had happened.

\-- --

It was 8:20 PM, Tenko was standing right outside the ultimate supreme leader’s lab. She tapped the walls impatiently although she too was late. As she began to groan, the purple haired boy came walking out; not shocked by the aikido master’s appearance.

“I didn’t think you would show up!” he laughed, and grinned widely. He opened the door and stepped back, gesturing for her to come in, she refused.

“I’d rather keep this short and quick, just like what you men always do,” she replied as the boy shrugged, stepped out, and shut the door.

She continued, “So, what was it that you wanted about Himiko?”

Kokichi looked her in the eye, despite their obvious height difference. His tone suddenly changed, almost, mature like. “I know you and her, all buddy budd, and you should probably know I like her as well.”

“So?”

“I want your blessing to ask her out on a date.”

— —

Kyouko was intrigued, she hadn’t been really nosy in her client’s private life, but there was something about the way he talked that reminded her of something. He had been rambling on and on about this girl, whom he has not yet named but has been described as having blonde hair and a cutesy pink getup.

Shuichi could feel his cheeks get redder and redder with every word he spoke of her.

“She’s a great friend of mine,” he continued, “I think she saved me, but I dunno.” He rubbed at the singular spot at the back of his neck; redness had already spread there, likely from irritation. Kyouko pulled his hand out.

“Are you a detective?”

He swallowed, never really forced to face the ultimate title before. He remained silent, but Kyouko’s face remained stern.

“Are you a detective?”

…

He didn’t know. He was so weak; too weak. Too skinny too short too shy too dumb too scared; too much of everything. That’s all he’s been told his entire life, and that’s all he’s ever known.

He turned his head to the left, to hide his face as single tears streamed down his face. Shuichi tried his best to hold it in, as if he could place a barrier under his eyes but he couldn’t.

_Couldn’t_

_Can’t_

_Won’t_

“I don’t know, and I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took so long to write (and it’s only 1.4k words ugh)
> 
> if you haven’t noticed, my writing has obviously slowed down as i had to focus a lot of my time on my other fic (if you love me, never let me go). we recently published chapter 6 + a christmas one shot AND created a Spotify playlist (so there’s that)
> 
> this is most likely my last chapter for the year, so just in case it is i’d like to wish you all merry christmas! or any other religious holiday you celebrate <3
> 
> actually fun fact rn im on a road trip at the time of publishing this so lmao if you wanted to know the conditions im in
> 
> okay last note (since this will probably be longer than the chapter if i write more), i added a mental health tag just in case it’s a sensitive topic for some people. i’m planning to bring up some mental health issues with some of the characters in future chapters. i’m not trying to sugar coat it here as i have a few personal experiences whether it’s with friends or myself, so please comment if it is a sensitive topic and i’ll be sure to respect that.
> 
> happy holidays!


	9. Misconceptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's trial time, and only one detective is fit enough to solve the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so im changing my spelling of kyouko to kyoko cause apprently that's the official spelling? idk im just going with it.

**THE FOLLOWING TRANSCRIPT IS STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL AND IS FOR COURT USE ONLY.**

**PARTICIPANTS:**

Kirigiri, Kyoko

Momota, Kaito

**TIME START: 7:36 AM**

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: Thank you for being here with us today, just for your knowledge this interview is behind recorded by both visuals and audio. If you have any last minutes requests please do say so now.

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: May I have a glass of water?

 

[Guard is seen handing a small cup of water to Momota]

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: Thank you.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: [coughing] Why were you there at the scene of the crime?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: I was trying to save Saihara’s ass. Akamatsu, Harukawa, Keebo, Amami and I had heard screaming so we rushed up there.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: How did you get to Hoshi’s lab if it was locked as reported by the police when they tried to come in?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: We has decided to split up to search all grounds, Amami went with Akamatsu, Keebo went alone so if you can put a lil’ logic into it Harukawa and I searched together. We found a small room and searched there; [she] accidentally hit the back wall and it pushed forward like a door. It revealed a vent like hallway so we decided to go through it, after a while a found an opening that led to the lab where we saw Saihara being beaten up.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: Mhm, may I ask why you decided to search the small room?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: [interogee hesitates] Ah, um-

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: Nevermind, next question. What happened after you found that opening?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: I jumped in of course! I tried to tackle Hoshi to save Saihara but he somehow knew I was there and turned around to hit me. I fell to the ground face first, so I used that position to my advantage to act dead. I thought I was a [EXPLICIT] genius at the time.

 

KIRIGIRI, Kyoko: Did you at all witness anything after that? Or hear anything?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: I had to close my eyes to act dead so I couldn’t see anything. The only things I heart were running, then something sharp flying, then two steps, and after and the two steps the sharp object sounds stopped.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: How can you hear a sharp object flying?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: Easy, it must have been going at a very fast pace for it to make a sound. It’s almost like if you were to glide your scissors while cutting a piece of paper.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: A fast pace you say? Do you think someone would have to be very skilled to throw a sharp object that fast?

 

MOMOTA, KAITO: Um, yeah prolly. I mean—even I can’t throw something that fast.

 

KIRIGIRI, KYOKO: Thank you for your time, you may proceed to the waiting room.

 

[RECORDING ENDS]

——

It was just two hours before the trial, Kyoko stood in front of a large table in her office, evidence and all laid out on it. The freshly printed transcript of her interview with Kaito was in her hands as she flipped through it over and over again.  _A skilled knife thrower, who had to be at the scene._

A faint knocking at her door startled the detective, who set down the transcript and rushed to open the door. On the other side of the door was none other than the writing prodigy herself wearing a sleek dark purple dress that reached till her knees, and a simple white cardigan with pearl buttons. Of course, she still had those thin glasses from high school.

“Fukawa-san? What are you doing here?”

Despite her change in clothing, her timid attitude did not change. She fiddled with the end of her cardigan; it took her a while to respond.

“I-I came to watch the trial o-of that s-student,” she stuttered, “I-I’m writing a b-book, about lawyers in love, so I-I thought I c-could accompany you.”

Kyoko stood silent; they hadn’t really talked in high school, heck, the only time they did talk was when Makoto was there. It wasn’t a surprise to Toko that she had a hard time responding. In fact, most people had a hard time responding to her, considering her personality and all.

“Of course,” replied Kyoko as she shook her head out of confusion and gestures for Toko to come in. Toko walked up to the table and stared in awe as Kyoko closed the door.

“Is this what detectives do?” she asked, picking up the transcript.

“Yeah, we gather evidence. Typically we’re not the ones to present it, that’s usually the lawyer, but some special request from the headmaster and now I’m the one defending her.”

Toko looked up at her, she had been reading through the transcript, admiring all the writing material she could gather from this once table alone. “O-oh, you mean Naegi-kun?”

Kyoko nodded.

The ultimate writing prodigy set down the transcript and leaned against the table. “Have you not s-spoken to him since?”

Kyoko sighed and grabbed the transcript back, “I’d rather not talk about him.”

“O-oh okay,” she paused, looking the change the topic, “Do you really think she killed him? Just like that?”

_A skilled knife thrower, who had to be at the scene._

_Running, flying, steps, stop._

She turned to Toko, “Do you mind running to the door as fast as you can on my count?”

Confused, Toko scratched her head. “Is this some detective thing?”

“Now.” And so as ordered, Toko ran as fast as could the short distance between the door and the table. As soon as she was almost by the door, Kyoko took two steps forward, and she stepped right into Toko’s path.

Kyoko then quickly grabbed a picture from the table. It was a map of the bodies found and where based on security camera footage. She put it back down. Toko still stood at the door.

“What d-did you find?”

“I need you to turn into Genocider Jack.”

Toko’s eyes widened, “Excuse me!? I-I haven’t switched in weeks! Byakuya-kun would be so proud-“

Kyoko ignored Toko’s rambling (mostly about Togami) and quickly searched her desk for some sort of pepper spray. She found a small bottle of perfume, a gift from Makoto, carelessly stuffed in the bottom of one of her drawers. She gave it a sniff and coughed.  _A bit too strong_. Her nose began to itch but she didn’t cave in for the risk of scarring Toko and raising her suspicions. She walked up to her as she stared into the distance, talking about Togami.

“Hey Fukawa-san, mind smelling this?”

“He’s so charming-oh wait wha-“

Before she could give her consent Kyoko applied a quick spray of perfume to Toko’s nose.

“AAACHOO!”

Kyoko took a few steps back. I hope I know what I’m doing.

Suddenly appeared Toko, now fitted with multiple scissors and a long tongue. Kyoko shivered, how did she get through high school with that? Toko- or Genocider Jack - grinned widely.

“Sup’ fuckers,” she looked around with her vicious eyes till they landed on Kyoko who was now standing as far away as she could. “Aw-scared princess?”

“Just shut up, I need you to throw your scissors directly at-“

“You?” she asked excitedly.

The detective shook her head and patted the wall next to her, “Right next to my head.”

“Roger that!” Toko took one of her scissors and expertly threw it; the sound of it cutting through the air could be heard easily. As soon as it hit the wall next to Kyoko, the sound came to a complete stop. Kyoko’s eyes widened in realization.

She grabbed her bag and threw the transcript in it. She took Toko’s hand and started dragging out of the office. Surprised, Toko swore as Kyoko continued to drag her out and into her car. “To the trial grounds please,” she ordered to her driver, “Step on it. I got the evidence.”

——

Makoto stood in the waiting room, it was pretty crowded considering the circumstance of the trial. The only people there a few staff members of the academy and a blonde haired student. The last empty seat was by the student, so Makoto decided to sit. It was better than looking like a coward standing up.

The girl looked at him as he sat, she was wearing a pink sweater with plain denim jeans. Her hair was pulled back from her face by a few cute hair clips shaped like music notes. The student turned to him, “Are you nervous?”

Makoto has to admit, he was absolutely  _terrified_. He had promised to make the school a better place, but with the dramatic events happening the press kept getting worse and worse each time. He thought of this trial not just of one of his students, but one of the school’s. The administration had already been on his ass since day one, looking for an excuse to perhaps demote him, or replace him. Well, he thought, this is their chance.

He straightened his posture, “Why would you ask that?”

“You seem nervous.”

He sighed and leaned back, “I mean it’s just the fate of the whole school and my job on the line, so yeah, you could say I’m nervous.”

She scoffed, “I remember the last time I was nervous like this, I was about to ask my best friend out.”

“Did you?”

The student shook her head, “No, chickened out. And now he’s in the hospital. Romance can wait, I guess.”

“Hmph,” he replied, not bothering to push the subject further. They sat in silence for a while till the door swung open and Kyoko barged in dragging a very scared looking Toko by the hand. Makoto stood up instantly.

“Kirigiri-san? Fukawa-san?” He looked back and forth at them expectantly waiting for a response.

“Ah, Naegi-kun,” replied Kyoko, who avoided eye contact with him at all costs.

“LET ME GOOOOO!” screamed Toko who struggled in Kyoko’s grasp. She finally managed to wiggle out, Kyoko’s hand had left a red mark on her skin.

“Well, um,” Makoto hesitated, “trial’s bout’ to begin.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“O-oh come on!” interrupted Toko, who was probably suffering more than they were as a romance writer watching the two interact. “Y-you guys were practically inseparable in high school! What happened?”

“Fukawa-san.”

The door to the courtroom opened and a man in a suit came out. “You may enter now.”

——

The courtroom had an eerie feel to it, typically you’d feel happy for someone being brought to justice but now it wasn’t the case. Kaito had arrived late, just in the middle of the judge’s explanation. He tiptoed in inconspicuously, taking a spot next to Kaede. Maki was standing next to two double doors that faced the judge’s seat from the left. Shuichi was still in the hospital, doctors said that he still needed to be put under observation as the blows were quite hard and in fact might have done a bit more damage than they had anticipated. Kyoko promised to fill him in on the events afterward.

Apparently, this trial was a bit different, the judge, who looked more or less stoned as shit, waved his gavel around and exclaimed about how he was going to make this trial a little less boring considering there were kids involved. He went over the rules, making sure to go over each point more than once. Kyoko yawned, this wasn’t her first trial, but Toko seemed to be enjoying it seeing as almost everywhere she looked was writing material.

The judge cleared his throat, “May I call the first witness up to the stand.” Kaede stood up silently and walked over to the stand calmly making it apparent that she wasn’t scared. She sat down forceful, bouncing a bit before settling. Before the judge could say so, Kaede had already started her testimony.

“Harukawa-san had both of her hands behind her back, she saw Hoshi-kun sprinting towards the door and that’s when she threw them.” She looked at Kaito with eyes that said ‘you’re fucking welcome’. “Then all of a sudden Rantar-, I mean Amami-kun quickly took two steps and intercepted the knives before they could get to Hoshi-kun. That is all, your honor.”

The judge nodded, trying to stay awake, “Kyoko Kirigiri, you may begin your questioning.”

Kyoko stood up and brushed off her skirt although it was perfectly clean; it was just something she did superstitiously (or that’s how she justified it). She walked over to Kaede at the stand, arms crossed.

“Akamatsu-san? Based on your testimony it seems like Harukawa-san was not intentionally aiming for Amami-kun, but instead, it was his choice to step in. Was it not?”

Kaede gulped and nodded, “That is the case. Yes.”

Kyoko stood right in front of her, the only thing separating them was the stand itself. She stared intently into her eyes as if she thought she was lying-which Kyoko know very much so she wasn’t based on her own evidence. She then took a few steps back after the teenager snickered and rolled her eyes.

“Your honor, her testimony clearly lines up with the evidence collected by the court. I think the ruling here is obvious.”

The judge raised a brow, “Oh really? Do you mind going over it for me?”

She sighed and adjusted her gloves. “Hoshi-kun ran for the door in attempts to escape the crime scene, but since Harukawa-san thought that Momota-kun was dead her first response was to throw the knives at him. This, your honor can be ruled out as self-defense, considering what he did to Saihara-kun. Afterwards, Amami-kun, for whatever reason, decided to step in and instead he was the one to be stabbed with the knives.”

“Get on with it- I mean, please come to a conclusion.”

“This means Harukawa-san is innocent of murder. And she cannot be charged with a false confession, as it might have been seen as a murder to anyone’s eyes. That would be all your honor.”

\-- --

The car ride back to the academy had been awkward, to put it plainly. Kyoko’s driver had for some reason taken off with the car, causing Makoto to offer a ride. Since most of the students had taken the bus, she accepted, with Toko accompanying them as well. Makoto was driving while Toko was in the back. Kyoko had settled for the front seat as Toko lied down, taking all the space in the back. She said that she was ‘processing’ all the inspiration she had gotten by observing the trial but most people who knew her could probably tell she was dreaming about Togami.

The detective stared out the window in hopes that Makoto would get the message that she wasn’t going to welcome any sort of conversation. Unfortunately, Makoto was never really the type to read messages. While at a traffic light, he turned to her. They took turns speaking, almost like a tennis match.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Everything.”

“It’s fine.”

“Have you thought about it?”

“About what?”

“The ring.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a few notes:
> 
> first- i know how fast this story went from 1 to 100, but i assure you since the trial is over it will be back to (somewhat) wholesome high school... well after rantaro's funeral that is
> 
> secondly- some mental health issues were supposed to be introduced in this chapter, but i don't have my shit together so yeah
> 
> finally- i have no idea how trials work outside of danganronpa, hence the judge being kinda stoned to give me a bit of leeway to make mistakes about law (sorry)
> 
> merry christmas! i hope you will continue to read my stories in the new year <3
> 
> ps: get ready for some naegiri next chapter;)


	10. Everything's Going To Be Okay (probably) - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait! the climate where i'm living is going apeshit at the moment, making it hard to focus when there's literally ice everywhere in a usual hot area, but enjoy the chapter:)
> 
> \-- there's probably a lot of errors in this chapter, but i wanted to get it out as soon as possible so excuse any mistakes of mine!

There was no avoiding it everywhere you looked in the academy. Everyone had been getting ready that day, including Shuichi who still was stuck in the hospital. Kyoko had been nice to let him borrow a suit, the previous owner of it unknown. She had went to the hospital early in the morning, all ready in a black skirt and button down with her signature gloves. They were to go to the funeral together, seeing as Shuichi couldn’t go to school to catch the bus service to the funeral from the hospital in time. As she waited for him to change and freshen up, she opened up her phone and scrolled through the sea of emails waiting for her reply. Despite all the important ones of those offering her massive sums of money for a case, there was only one that caught her eyes. She tapped on it.

**_< To>_ ** _ Kyoko Kirigiri _

**_< From>_ ** _ Makoto Naegi _

**_< Subject> _ ** _ Funeral Service _

_ Kirigiri-san,  _

_ I am emailing to formally invite you to the funeral of Rantaro Amami. This was a tragic event in the history of Hope’s Peak Academy, but thanks to your help we were able to solve the case. We hope to see you there. _

_ Regards, _

_ Makoto Naegi _

_ Hope’s Peak Academy Headmaster _

Kyoko snickered a little; she had noted how he said ‘we’, as if he was speaking on the whole school’s behalf. She could see through that facade, she knew that he only emailed her because he lacked an excuse to talk to her. Kyoko sighed and deleted the email, she had to go to the funeral anyway, with or without the email, to bring Shuichi safely. His parents couldn’t make it in time, and over the past few days, Shuichi almost felt like a son to her. She had considered the feeling being due to the both of them were detectives, but then realized it was something else, and that something was yet to be uncovered. It almost pained her not to know what it was, and not having the right lead to know where to start with it, because the one thing she’s done all her life, was to find out, and know things. It was her job.

Shuichi walked down the hallway from the bathroom, all nicely freshened up and ready for the funeral. Although it wasn’t something to be excited about, Shuichi was finally ready to leave the hospital even just for a few hours. Something about it made his experience here grim, and he was ready to just breathe in air that didn’t smell like the mix of human waste and alcohol all the time. He walked up to Kyoko as she stood up and smiled faintly.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked. He nodded and shrugged, and for some reason, she didn’t stop him this time.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

\-- --

Kaede set down her brush as she finished tying her hair into a neat, tight, ponytail. She sighed, glancing at her black dress from all angles. She had to make sure everything was perfect, even if it is a funeral. Kaede told herself that it’ll be alright, that Rantaro was the one who stepped in and she should just forgive Maki. But despite being an optimistic person, she learned the hard way that some people aren’t meant to be forgiven. 

But then again, Maki was her first friend at the academy, and Kaede being the sentimental person she was treasured that. Maybe she should forgive her, but she just shook her head, trying not to focus on Maki too much on Rantaro’s day. Or funeral day. 

She got up from her dresser and grabbed her small purse where she just put the essentials, a compact, her phone, her wallet, and a small pocket knife. You could never be too careful these days. Kaede then grabbed her beeping phone and opened it up to reveal a couple of messages from their class group chat.

 

_ Class 80 Chatroom _

_ Gokuhara, Gonta [Gonta], has logged in. (8:42 AM) _

_ Oma, Kokichi [SponByPanta], has logged in. (8:42 AM) _

_ Yumeno, Himiko [himiko٭], has logged in. (8:44 AM) _

_ Tojo, Kirumi [Maid-Mom], has logged in. (8:45 AM) _

_ Momota, Kaito [it’s space my dudes], has logged in. (8:47 AM) _

 

SponByPanta: is everyone going to the funeral?

it’s space my dudes: are you actually asking a genuine question????

himiko٭: *gasps*

SponByPanta: shut up okay

SponByPanta: just answer the question

Gonta: gonta is going

Maid-Mom: So am I.

himiko٭: soo basically everyone?

SponByPanta: is tenko going?

himiko٭: yeah why?

it’s space my dudes: its him ofc it has to be something bad

SponByPanta: momota-kun!! i thought we were past the part of our relationship where we just assume things!

Gonta: i did not know they were dating.

himiko٭: oumota?

_ Akamatsu, Kaede [Kaede ♬], has logged in. (8:50 AM) _

Kaede ♬: i ship it

Gonta: akamatsu-san!

himiko٭: oh hey kaede

Maid-Mom: How are you holding up?

it’s space my dudes: you dont typically ask someone that right off the bat....

Maid-Mom: My apologies. Good morning, Akamatsu-san. 

Kaede ♬: it’s fine

Kaede ♬: im fine too i guess, i’ll see you all on the bus

And with that, Kaede switched her phone on silent, dropped it in her bag, and headed out the door.

\-- --

Himiko sat on the bench near the front entrance of the school. There were only a few minutes till 9 AM when the bus would be due to pick them up to head to the funeral. She quietly giggled to herself as she looked through her past group chats, most of them including Tenko and Kokichi. Himiko sighed and looked around, realizing a couple of the upperclassmen were looking at her. She wasn’t wearing her usual stand-out number but instead swapped it for a simple black dress that hung over her body like a potato sack. She then felt the space on the bench next to her get heavier, she looked over. 

“Hey Himiko,” said Kaede as she lifted a stray piece of hair from her hair behind her ear. She and Kaede never really talked much these days, unlike back when they first came to the school and they had both signed up for the talent show. They bonded during rehearsals only for the show to be canceled, due to some unknown reason. Still, they didn’t feel the need to use each other’s last names. 

“Hi Kaede, you waiting for the bus too?” Which was a stupid question to ask, as she just messaged the group chat saying that she’ll see them on the bus. Kaede still nodded, then leaned over to see what was on Himiko’s phone. The magician’s efforts to shield the messages away from her were useless, considering the height difference.  

Kaede smiled, “Is that Chabashia-san and Oma-kun?”

“Yes.”

“Are they fighting?”

“Yes.”

“Over you?”

“Yes- I mean what?” she set her phone down and turned to face the now smirking pianist. “Why would they fight over me? And how would you know?”

Kaede shrugged, “I’m physic.”

Himiko jumped a bit in her seat, “Ehh? I thought my magic was enough to block your physic aura?”

The pianist then laughed only for her harmonious laugh to be drowned out by the sound of the bus, then another laugh.

“Neeheehee, I think we should be getting on the bus now, don’t you think Himiko-senpai?”

The magician’s face turned red. “Let’s just get going,” she said, standing up and dragging Kaede alongside her, “And you’re sitting next to me, Kaede.” 

\-- --

The ride to the graveyard was mostly silent with the exception of Kokichi, who was seated next to Gonta (and we all know how that goes). Everyone could feel that sense of guilt was in the air since Kaede was on the bus. She and Himiko had sat in the front, to prevent Himiko from becoming carsick. If it wasn’t for the window, Kaede felt as if she would vomit too. 

It wasn’t that she got carsick easily, unlike Himiko who had to stare out the window during the entire ride to avoid feeling sick, but it was more of something in her stomach, a feeling she had to get out, and for some reason, she thought vomiting would make it better. Now, Kaede was bent over the public toilet, making sure every last bite of her breakfast was gone, but still, the feeling wasn’t. 

Kaede stood up, flushed the toilet, and made her way out of the cubicle making sure that no one else was there in the hallway before exiting the restrooms. As she made it to the burial ground, she inconspicuously took her seat in the front as slipped a stick of gum into her mouth. 

Himiko sat next to her, she was intently watching the pastor as he made his way behind the large rectangular hole that held Rantaro’s casket with him inside. Kaede did her best not to think of it much, but her best was still not enough to stop a waterfall of tears to stream down her face. The pastor cleared his throat and put his hands together, ready to begin.

“Friends,” he began, “We are here today to honor the death of a beloved friend, and son.” The pastor looked over to a weeping couple, the wife was completely buried in her husband’s shoulders crying into his dress shirt and soaking the area around it.

The pastor continued his little speech. “Rantaro Amami, was a great asset, both to his family and to his school. Many of you knew him, which is why we are here today, to bury not just a teenage boy, but a hero.”

The pastor continued to ramble on as Kaede continued to cry. Her vision started to blur and all she could hear was white noise. It was as if the world had been tipping her over, gravity was against her as she tried to get up. She clung to the edge of her seat as she made her way down the aisle, ignoring and not sure of anyone who tried to help.  

After a short (or long, she couldn’t tell), Kaede was away from the burial site. She sighed loudly then sat down on a nearby bench, or, at least what she thought was a bench from her blurry eyes. As soon as she sat down, she heard the sound of a male gasp and immediately jumped up and rubbed her eyes, drying out all the tears. Kaede opened her eyes again only to see Shuichi, staring back at her with a book in hand, she calmly took a seat next to him this time.

“Hey, Shuichi,” she said, almost whispering. He shut his book and ran a hand through his hair. Kaede had just noticed he wasn’t wearing his hat. The hat he probably loved more than his parents. “Where’d your hat go?” He smiled.

“It’s a funeral, I didn’t think it would be respectful.” As soon as he said that Kaede’s face began to beam. It wasn’t really the fact that they were talking, or that they were alone, but she felt as if she was seeing a butterfly break out of its cocoon. It’s beautiful.  _ He’s _ beautiful. 

_ But he’s not him, _ she thought.

“What are you doing out here anyway?” he asked, noticed her dazed expression from being in deep thought.

The pianist shrugged, “I needed a break.” Shuichi nodded intently as if she was giving a whole speech.

“Ah, I understand,” he replied. A silence swarmed around them like bees. In a way, Kaede found it comforting.

“Anyway,” she cleared her throat, “How are you? I mean, I haven’t seen you since three weeks ago!” Her tone was cheery, just like before. 

He turned a bit to face her. “My recovery is going fine, I still need to be in this hospital for a week though, so I might miss the winter dance thing.” Kaede smirked as Shuichi’s cheeks reddened. “Ah- not that, you know, I was planning to go in the first place,” he quickly added, not quickly enough for his cheeks to glow like a tomato. 

“Damn Shuichi,” Kaede joked, “What blush do you use?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yours.” 

Kaede laughed and leaned back, now feeling more relaxed despite the tense situation. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad you’re here with me.”

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay a bit of an update: i will be taking a short break from writing this fic as i really need to focus on my studies! i stay up later than i need to be just writing, so just note that the next chapter might take a bit longer than usual (expect a 1-3 week delay). 
> 
> thank you!! 
> 
> (i might post a few mini stories here and there, but that's basically it)


	11. Everything's Going To Be Okay (probably) - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ comment your fave dr1 ship if you see that (not so) subtle trial 1 reference ]

By the time Kaede and Shuichi managed to stop laughing and return to the funeral, the priest was just about done with his speech. They took some seats silently in the back, not wanting to disturb anyone with their occasional burst of giggling, especially at an event like this.

As if they had seemed to gotten lost in time, a minute or less since they had sat down the whole crowd had now been standing up and making their way back into their cars. Shuichi and Kaede glanced at each other and stood up, only to be approached by the headmaster. Makoto smiled.

“Just to let you kids know, the Winter Ball will be held next week, 3 days before Christmas if you are still in town,” he said in a calm manner. Kaede nodded her head.

“Thank you, sir. We’ll definitely go. Right Shuichi?” she asked, taking him by surprise.

“Uh, yea-”

“Only until you get better,” interrupted Kyoko who had just popped into the conversation and stood with a hand on Shuichi’s shoulder. “Your doctors still need to run a few tests before they can let you go. Precautions.” She turned to Makoto, with a stern look on her face.

“Naegi-kun.”

“Kirigiri-san.” A cloud of silence rained down onto the group. 

“Well,” said Kaede, clapping her hands, “Since the reception’s only for family, I guess I’ll just drop Shuichi off-”

“There’s no need,” said Kyoko, “I was just about to drop him off myself.” 

“Kirigiri-senpai, it seems as if you are busy. It shouldn’t be a hassle if Kaede should drop me off this once.”

Surprised by the change of tone, Kyoko smiled and nodded. “Bring him back to the hospital safely.”

“I will!” replied Kaede, who took Shuichi by the hand as they both walked towards the taxi waiting area. Kyoko watched them as they took off.

“Kirigiri-san, thanks for coming I guess.” She turned to face him.

“Thanks for the invite.”

“It was only a gesture of gratitude.”

A silence cut through them again as Makoto started to tap his foot on the ground looking for a topic to bring up.

“Sooooo,” he said, “How’s Fukawa-san?” 

Kyoko shrugged, “She’s still writing and obsessed with Togami-kun, so everything’s back to normal.”

“I see.”

“Hmph, is there anything else you want to talk about?” asked Kyoko, impatiently as she checked her watch.

“Why do we have to be like this?” he asked, without hesitation. 

Kyoko raised a brow, “Like what?”

“Like, you know, not like before.” 

She shook her head, “Tsk, out of everyone here Makoto, you should know better.”

“I should?”

“Yes, you should. If I just tell you right here and now, you won’t be satisfied with the result. You have to find out for yourself,” said Kyoko before twirling around and heading to her car where her driver was waiting with the door wide open.

\-- --

“This sucks,” said Kokichi as he walked alongside Himiko to a nearby cafe.

“Nyehhh? Someone died you think it sucks?”

“I mean-” 

Before he could respond, Kokichi stopped walking as Himiko turned to face him and put her hands on his shoulder. 

“Huh?”

She shook him violently, “What do you mean?” 

Shocked, Kokichi’s voice started to shake, “I mean, um, the fact that, um.” She started to shake him a bit more and that’s when Kokichi realized what she was doing. Catching him off guard. He laughed. 

“Neehehehe, are you trying to catch me off guard, Himiko-chan?”

Himiko let go of him and continued to walk, adjusting her dress. “It’s just that,” she said, “you lie a heck ton.”   
  


“I do not!”

“Uh-huh, then answer me this, are you jealous of me and Tenko?

“What? Why would I be jealous of that triggered feminist? Pfft.” Kokichi turned his head so she couldn’t see the redness around his cheeks. 

After a few minutes of silence, the two had finally reached the cafe. As they sat outside, waiting for their order, Himiko tapped her fingers impatiently on the glass table. She looked up at Kokichi, always so poised, calm, and full of lies. Sometimes she wondered what was going through that boy’s head, other times she’d just rather not think about what was going through a hormonal teenage boy’s mind. But as she continued to stare Himiko could see the find lines and dark circles underneath his eyes, and the faint marks of forming wrinkles on his forehead. She sighed and turned her head to the waitress who was coming out the door with their drinks. She set a grape soda in front of Kokichi, and a steaming cup of tea in front of Himiko before smiling and going back inside. Himiko picked up her tea and sipped it, watching Kokichi leave his soda alone and instead fiddle with his thumbs.

“Why aren’t you drinking your soda?” she asked. He looked her in the eye and shrugged.

“Not thirsty.”

She set her tea down, “Is this because of what I asked you earlier?” He shook his head only to see her furrow her brows.

“Kokichi-”

“So what if it is?” he replied, in his usual tone. 

“Damnit Kokichi!” Himiko screamed, catching the attention of passerbyers and students who weren’t used to seeing her this mad. 

“Neeheehee, it appears that I have made Himiko mad.”

“You sure have,” she said in a low voice, “can’t you be honest with me for once?”

“Hmm, let me think about it-”

“Now,” she said, ignoring the fact that he was going to reply, “answer me this. Do you like me?” Himiko looked down at her feet as tears started to pool around her eyes and her stomach began to fill with regret.  _ He would never answer it honestly, _ she thought.

“Why the sudden question Himiko-senpai? If you wanted to declare your love for me now why didn’t you just say so?”

_ I was right _ .

In silence, Himiko stood up, steadying herself by firmly placing her palms on the table. “You just don’t get it, do you?”

“What is there to get?”

“Nyeh, there’s no point,” she muttered to herself as she threw some notes on the table and walked away. Oblivious to the screams that slowly grew softer as she walked farther away.

\-- --

Hope’s Peak Academy - Private Messaging

_ Harukawa, Maki, has logged in. (6:37 PM) _

_ Harukawa, Maki has invited Momota, Kaito [it’s space my dudes]. (6:39 PM) _

_ Momota, Kaito [it’s space my dudes], has logged in. (6:39 PM)  _

it’s space my dudes: you needed something harumaki?

Harukawa, Maki: You do know I’m being allowed back on campus tomorrow right?

it’s space my dudes: o yea

it’s space my dudes: ain’t i picking you up at 10 am?

Harukawa, Maki: Yeah.

it’s space my dudes: then why’d you invite me to a chat room?

it’s space my dudes: not saying i dont want to talk to you

it’s space my dudes: that’s not what i meant

it’s space my dudes: shit did that come out wrong?

Harukawa, Maki: It’s fine, I was just checking with you to make sure.

it’s space my dudes: no prob! i would never ditch you.

Harukawa, Maki: It’s just one final request.

Harukawa, Maki: Don’t tell Kaede.

it’s space my dudes: why? aren’t you two roomates or somethin

Harukawa, Maki: It also seems like she’s going to be constantly at my throat when I return.

it’s space my dudes: hey harumaki, you don’t got anything to worry about. if she comes and attacks you, you’re the one with the assassin skills aren’t you? just punch her or something

Harukawa, Maki: ... 

Harukawa, Maki: Nevermind. I’ll just get a cab.

_ Harukawa, Maki, has logged out. (6:47 PM) _

it’s space my dudes: shit did that come out wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about this chapter being so short and shitty. i just recently entered a writing contest at my school and i only started to write my story 5 days before the due date so you could probably tell where my attention was.
> 
> i'll try and make the next chapter longer and more interesting, this chapter was just a way to introduce new conflicts and to calm down the rantaro mess. 
> 
> next chapter, maki will be returning to school so watch out;)


	12. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the screaming of the past events, the only thing the gang wants is some peace and silence. Too bad they only get one out of the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this makes up for the wait!

As Maki stepped out of her apartment she got her first breath of fresh air that she had in a while, considering the circumstances. She only had a few things with her at the time of her arrest, her phone, school ID, a few throwing stars (which were confiscated by the police), and her rose lapel from her uniform of which she changed into from her orange jumpsuit. She almost felt like herself again. After her release, she had been confined to her “family’s” small apartment which was a good 2 hours away from school. Needless to say, the police didn’t need to know that the apartment wasn’t hers, or that she wasn’t living with her aunt.

Maki savoured the feeling of the cool breeze and proceeded to walk to the bus stop by going across the parking lot. Along the way, it seemed as if someone didn’t take her words from the yesterday seriously.

“Hey, Harumaki!”

She stopped in her tracks, but kept her head staring forward, she knew if she gave into the urge she’d be putting down the walls she had spent so long building. Sighing, she continued walking forward toward the bus stop till a soft hand landed on her shoulder.

“Look,” said a familiar voice. She recognized it right away and walked faster, but the grip on her shoulder stayed.

“Hey, I’m trying to speak to you.” She continued to ignore him and the urge to just turn around and-

“Maki, I’m here to pick you up.” She stopped again, letting the voice sink in. Her knees turned weak as if she was almost relieved. Giving in, Maki turned around swiftly, brushing against the torso of the figure.

“Hey there,” said Kaito, looking down at her. She almost felt like a kid in the orphanage again.

\-- --

Shuichi hated hospital waiting rooms, especially this one. They would always be so dark and gloomy - which he claimed to be his aesthetic - with all the patients roaming around with their IV bags and wheelchairs. The fact that they had no say in defending themselves against this disease or whatever it was haunting their life saddened Shuichi, but then again, not everyone wins in the courtroom.  

He sat down in the least dim part of the room, the chair a thin piece of foam wrapped around an even thinner piece of plastic felt as if it would break at any given moment. As he waited for Kyoko to show and escort him back to the dorms, his ringtone of the  _ Sherlock _ theme song rang across the room, but the other people were too illness-ridden or melancholy to notice. Shuichi slipped his phone out of his pocket, pressed the answer button and held the device to his ear.

“Hello?” He waited a few seconds before the caller responded.

“Shuichi? Is that you?”

Surprised, Shuichi shook his head. “Mom?” He could feel relief coming from the other end.

“Oh, good. Your uncle didn’t trick me this time.”

“Nevermind that,” he interrupted, “what are you calling for?”

“Shuichi Saihara! That is no way to treat your mother.” He rolled his eyes.

“Sorry-”

“It’s fine, my boy. I guess I should just get straight to the point then. It’s about Miss Kirigiri.”

Shuichi sat up. “What about Kirigiri-san?”

His mother cleared her throat, “We’re planning to push through with the lawsuit against the school.”

“Lawsuit? For what?”

“For what happened to you! Another student abusing another into a fatal state is not something I signed up for when that letter from Hope’s Peak Academy arrived,” she scoffed, “such  _ hope _ they have there.”

“Mom!”

“Okay! I get it, you like the school. But your dad and I-”

And in a split second, Shuichi felt all his rage gather up, something he tried so hard to conceal.  _ Emotion _ .

“You and dad what?” he interrupted, “You guys have hated the school ever since uncle got sent my letter of acceptance, and now you’re suing? I get it you want to take legal action, but justice has already been served, there’s no point. You just grabbed the opportunity when it approached you didn’t you? You’ve always wanted to see this school at fault. But guess what, I go to Hope’s Peak, and I’m proud of it. If you’re blaming my school, you’re blaming me, and everyone who’s helped me to become who I am now, talking to you.”

Shuichi took a deep breath, he couldn’t remember the last time he had ever shouted at his mom like that. He almost felt guilty but his rushing thoughts of happiness swallowed those feelings. The weight that had been resting on his shoulders were finally lifted; now his lungs could expand. Subconsciously, Shuichi pressed the end call button and walked straight outside the automatic doors of the hospital, where a black car and a smiling face was waiting for him.

\-- --

“She’s coming back today isn’t she?” said Kaede as she sat by her dresser, her phone put on speaker rested on top of her makeup. 

“Yep!” replied Angie with her usual optimistic tone. Sighing, Kaede picked up her hair brushed and ran it through her perfectly untangled hair for the fiftieth time that morning as it had magically stalling powers. “You know, I can hear you sighing.”

“It wasn’t that loud,” Kaede argued.

“Ah,” Angie pressed her lips together, “it was loud enough for Atua to hear.” Rolling her eyes, Kaede finally got up from her dresser, bringing her phone with her as the plopped down onto her bed face first. She screamed into her pillow. There was a knock at her door.

“Comf in,” Kaede said, head still submerged in her pillow. She heard her door creak open. 

“Ah, Akamatsu-san, I hadn’t meant to interrupt your, ‘relaxation’ time. I just came under orders from the headmaster to clean up Maki’s room.” Kaede knew that voice, it was Kirumi. Who else would be brave enough to clean a borderline psychopath room? 

“It’s fine, do what you must.” Kaede sat up, took her phone off speaker and held it up to her phone where Angie was in the middle of a speech about Atua.

“-and Atua can feel what all of us mortals feel! He always tells me what I need to. For example, you’re the only one who thinks of Maki that way, Akamatsu-san.” Kaede furrowed her brows.

“In what way?” Angie giggled.

“You know, psychopathic, killer, criminal. All those things Atua has told me! Based on your reaction, I think it is fair to say that Atua never lies!” 

“Well, this Atua of yours is partially right. I do think of her that way, but I can’t possible be the only one!” 

There was only silence on the other end.

“Right, Angie?”

Still, only silence.

“Nevermind,” and with that Kaede hung up.

\-- --

The supreme leader paced outside Himiko’s dorm room where he contemplated the 2 possible scenarios that could happen if he opened the door. 1. Himiko would open it and he would be able to say sorry, which could have one of two outcomes. 1a. She accepts his apology or 2a. She slams the door in his face. 2. included Tenko opening the door which could only result in one thing, him getting severely beat up with the word “degenerate” being screamed into his face over and over again.

After what happened the other day, he felt something he hadn’t before. He felt like had a duty. And what the duty was frankly, he had no idea, but for some reason, his subconscious led him to the girl's dormitory, right in front of Himiko’s room. Kokichi obviously considered the thought of being caught, but that still didn’t stop him from wandering aimlessly around the girl’s dormitory hallway in hopes to suddenly change his subconscious decision, but no dice.

Kokichi finally stopped right in front her door and took a deep breath. He always had the mischievous demeanour on the outside, but on the inside, he hadn’t really paid attention to what he really felt, to what he really  _ wanted _ . It was almost if like his mask was soon going to swallow him alive. He raised his clenched hand and pushed it towards the door, about to knock, not before the door swung open and his fist met with someone’s forehead.

“Nyeh?”

\-- --

“Shuichi Saihara,” said Kyoko, who stood just outside her black car, “are you ready to go back to your second home?” Shuichi smiled sadly.

“My only home,” he replied, earning some surprised looks from Kyoko as she opened the car door for him. As he got into the back seats he settled down, smiling at the driver while he was adjusting his mirror. Once Kyoko got in on the other side of the car and sat a seat away from Shuichi. She nodded to the driver and they began to head to the academy.

Luckily for them, the academy was only 20-minutes away, 15 on a good day with no traffic. The driver had some light jazz, elevator music-esc music playing, which seemed to lighten up the car just a tad if it weren’t for the eerie silence that seemed to haunt Shuichi everywhere he went. Kyoko stared out the window as they entered the highway.

“The headmaster will be there waiting for your arrival,” she said, not turning to face him.

“Ah-, that’s nice of him.”

“Indeed,” Kyoko said swiftly, almost interrupting him, “anyways, have you talked to your parents about the lawsuit?” Shuichi shrugged.

“I’ve decided to not go through with it.” She turned around, aghast for probably the first time in her life.

“Why not?”

“Well, it’d just be like suing myself, wouldn’t it? The academy is my family, and doesn’t family always stick together?”

Kyoko shuddered, the thoughts of her dad leaving her were slowly coming back. She still hadn’t figured out where he hid, or where he lay 6-feet underground. But one thing was for sure, either way, he wasn’t going to come back. Kyoko sunk down into her seat a little.

“Oh, of course. If that is what you wish.” 

“But I still wish to keep in contact with you.”

“Why?”

He smiled and turned to face her, “I could learn a lot from you, Detective Kirigiri.”

She smiled back, “I’d be glad to show you the-,” but before she could finish, there was a loud noise just beside them. They both looked out the window. A car had just erupted into flames after colliding with another car. A Toyota and a Tesla. The Tesla was fine, save for the few scratches and dents at the back, but the Toyota had been completely wrecked: the hood of the car compressed to what Shuichi could only describe as a mechanical pancake, the windshield of the car only had a thin outline of broken glass left, and the seats were being covered by the airbags, except for a small portion of hair. 

“Wait,” said Shuichi, as he lowered the window, “is that?” As he stuck his head out of the window, he saw what the hair sticking out of the broken windshield of the Toyota. It was purple hair, purple hair dripping with blood. 

\-- --

The car ride home was pure silence in Kaito’s rented Toyota. He had offered to turn on the radio to which Maki silently declined with a swift shake of the head. The academy was a mere 45-minute drive, and what had seemed like an hour turned out to be only 10 minutes, meaning they still had the majority of the car ride to go.

Kaito kept his head straight on the road, not even turning to see if Maki hadn’t jumped out the car yet and onto the road. He was going 90 kilometres an hour, 10 kilometers more than the highway speed limit, Maki didn’t seem to mind though. Her eyes were staring straight out of her window, where a speeding Tesla rushed by them and overtook them. Kaito muttered something in disapproval before the car became silent again. 

Maki couldn’t remember the last time silence was uncomfortable for her. She practically lived in the shadows, where silent was the only thing you needed to be, nothing else. No expectations, no grades, no goals, no aspirations, only targets which so happened to be real people. She rolled down the window, sticking her hand out to feel the breeze. Kaito quickly turned to look at her.

“Careful, it’s dangerous to do that, but-”

“When has anything I’ve done not been dangerous?” she interrupted, now resting her chin on the window frame. Kaito sighed.

“I was going to say, ‘but who am I to tell you?’, if you would’ve let me finish.” Maki could see him shake his head in her peripheral vision. 

“Do you not want me doing this?” she asked, as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stuck her whole torso out the window. Kaito panicked in surprise.

“Maki! Please don’t do that.” She shrugged.

“I didn’t want you to come, but you did anyway.”

“This is different.”

“How?” she challenged him more, the outline of a grin forming on her face.

“Maki, stop.” She could feel him tugging on her skirt.

“I don’t want to.”

“And I don’t want to do this either, but I have to.” Maki looked back only to be pulled forcefully back into the car. Kaito had a hand on one of her arms. She resisted, using her neck to keep her outside. But Kaito’s grip had gotten stronger since her trial, it wasn’t the weakness she had felt that night underneath the stars. It was full of determination. 

“Kaito, stop!” she screamed as she had realized what he was doing. As he pulled more forcefully, his foot was stepping harder and harder on the gas pedal, Maki watched as the speedometer go up, and up, and up-

“KAITO!” she screamed before there was only blackness. And silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo~ (literally everyone: smh did she just say 'yo'????)
> 
> hey readers,
> 
> so if you couldn't tell i haven't updated since february fucking 11 (oof) ಠ╭╮ಠ
> 
> i finally had the time to write and so i decided to publish the day i finished the chapter, i usually leave it a day or two for edits, but i've waited too long to complete this chapter (so don't mind any errors) ;-;
> 
> i've had a lot of things go on, i've had a school camp, then a bunch of tests, then my birthday (whoop! still a child tho), and finally i have finals coming up in... *checks calendar* holy shit this friday (if you're reading this when i publish).
> 
> sooooo the next chapter will be coming out after my finals! (sorry about that) but no worries i'll try to get it out as soon as possible
> 
> ~(˘▾˘~)
> 
> \- implicit_despair


End file.
